The Hope for Forgiveness
by Benedick Prospero
Summary: Five years ago the Chosen Children had a major falling out and have not spoken since. Now, with both the digital world and the real world under threat from an evil like none they have ever faced before, the Chosen must find their way back to each other and stop this new evil before it's too late for both worlds.
1. Hope Returns

A/N: This is the first chapter of a multi-chapter story (my first multi-chapter story). It will be primarily from Takeru's POV, with other POVs popping up when the story warrants it.

Ships/romance are definitely possible in this story, probably likely. I'm pretty much open to any pairing (with one notable exception) so there's a distinct possibility that your favorite pairing could appear. Romance, if it does appear, will be just a complementary element to this story because I mainly want to focus on friendship and adventure, but hey your favorite couple could still show up so you should definitely read!

This fic has two primary inspirations: the brilliant story Adventure 03 by Allynca and the song "21 Guns" by Green Day. You really should read Allynca's story because it is better than anything I could hope to write. This story will however follow a much different path than Allynca's story, which just sorta served as inspiration for a jumping off point. The lyrics to the song "21 Guns" helped me really develop the themes I wanted to explore in this story so listening to it might put you in the right frame of mind to read it.

Please read and review, but most importantly enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do not own Digimon. Do not own any music or lyrics to Green Day songs.

* * *

_Do you know what's worth fighting for?_

_When it's not worth dying for?_

_Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating?_

_Green Day- 21 Guns_

Takeru looked at the calendar and let out a sad sigh as he went about preparing his clothes for basketball practice. He could not believe that it had been 5 years already. It was amazing to him how fast time marched on since that fateful day: August 1st, 2003. He hated that day more than any single thing he had in his entire life. He was practically fond of the powers of darkness compared to it. He tried not to think about that day as much as he possibly could, but it was always in vain. The memories of that day always come flooding back to him especially when he happened upon another one of the Chosen Children in his daily life. His mind often recalled the harsh words exchanged between the closest of friends, the tears shed due to the utter bleakness of what was happening, each of these things were like knives being thrust into his heart. He still could not understand how they could have so badly lost their way. They were always supposed to stay together, no matter what. They learned that lesson the hard way several times during their adventures. They were strongest when they were a unified front instead of disparate individuals. There was a reason they _all_ had been chosen after all. They were meant to serve a higher purpose, but apparently that had been forgotten on that fateful day. August 1st, 2003 was the last day of the Chosen Children as a group, it was the day of the schism.

For years since that day Takeru had desperately tried to reunite the group, to mend the fences that been wrecked that day, but it was of no avail. He did not understand what was causing these people had such a strong bond and love for each other for so long to suddenly throw all that away. He did not understand what it was that caused them to spurn all his attempts to mend the nearly fatal wounds that had been opened in these deeply meaningful relationships. Simply put Takeru did not understand any of it. How was he the only one who could see and understand their bond should not be wrecked over stupid differences in opinion. Yes, it had been sad that they had not seen their partners since the victory over MaloMyotismon, but that was hardly a reason to split up and say such terrible hurtful things to each other. While they technically did not have a reason to be a group anymore, given that both worlds were at peace, in Takeru's mind that was hardly a reason to lose each other. Their world saving adventures had only been the catalyst for their friendship, not the reason for it. Their relationships went much deeper than that. They were far too important to try to abandon each other over differences of opinion in what happened to their partners and if they would ever get to see them again. It was so trivial to him. He wished that the others would listen to reason, instead of letting their pride blind them to the fact that they were only hurting each other and themselves by keeping this up.

If he were not so bothered and disturbed by his friends behavior towards each other he might have laughed at the irony of the situation. All of the enemies that had come up against the Chosen Children had never been been able to truly break up the group despite their best efforts, and yet the Chosen Children managed to accomplish that on their own. Their in-fighting and bitterness over being separated from their partners due to circumstances outside their control proved a far greater foe than any digimon had faced, and ultimately was one they failed to defeat. This deeply saddened him, but he knew that he was the last vestige of the Chosen Children. The only one who still believed that they should get back together whether or not the world depended on it. He knew that somewhere deep down in their hearts, buried beneath the pain and bitterness that had built up over the years that the rest of the chosen knew that it was true as well. It was only a matter of opening their eyes to the truth so they would longer harden their hearts. However, this was much easier said than done. He had learned this the hard way, through multiple slammed doors and abrupt hang ups, that the other Chosen were not too keen on the prospect of reuniting and burying the hatchet. They seemingly much preferred to hold on to the bitterness that had long ago consumed them and hidden their true feelings from themselves.

Takeru knew that if he could just get through to one of the other 11 Chosen that he would then be able to topple the rest like dominoes, but thus far all his attempts at doing this were an exercise in futility. He knew that some of them would be harder to persuade than others, but he never thought that the two Chosen he held closest to his heart would follow the others in denying him the chance to help heal them and open their eyes to how badly they were hurting themselves. The rejections by Yamato and Hikari had wounded him the most deeply. He had convinced himself that if anyone would listen to his message it would be those two, his best friend and his brother, he understood them better than anyone in the world and had always depended on them for strength through their adventures. So it was with these thoughts in mind that head approached them full of hope and thinking that he had a very strong chance at starting the reunification with the two of them, and when their rejection came it was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water directly on his heart. He felt so cold and lonely after those rejections, but something in his mind would not let him wallow in despair despite how dire the situation had become. He knew that his crest was more than tool to help Patamon digivolve to his higher levels. No, the crest meant that he was supposed to carry the burden of hope for the group. Just when everything seemed like it was at it's worst, when the darkness threatened to take away any notion that things would end up ok, it was his responsibility to make sure they did not lose hope and sink into despair. Therefore he soldiered on despite the rejections in the knowledge that if he did not do this then no would.

In the times between reflecting on the schism that had divided the Chosen and attempting to reunite the group, Takeru lived a pretty average life. When his responsibilities with the digital world had ended Takeru became more heavily involved in basketball, not as a life's passion, but rather he viewed it as an acceptable outlet to give himself a sense of team and camaraderie that he was sorely lacking since the breakup of the Chosen Children. Entering his senior year of high school he was a slightly above average student across the board, except when it came to literature where he was top of his class. For Takeru literature seemed like a natural refuge from the despair that always lurked on the margins of his mind. He felt as though he could immerse himself into these grand worlds constructed by brilliant writers and just escape for hours at a time. He had always found this practice cathartic as when he exited these literary worlds he felt renewed and armed with new ideas and perspectives on how he could find a way to bridge the gulf that had grown between the chosen. In the last year or so he had actually taken to writing his own works, whether they be poetry, short stories, or long pieces of fiction and he felt that this was also an effective coping mechanism. When despair over the lost friendships with the Chosen threatened to overwhelm him as he found that he could pour out his feelings on to the page and unburden himself. He in fact found that this was essential for him because he no longer had anyone he could talk to about these serious things, now that the group had split apart. He would often see his fellow Chosen in school and would feel the harsh pain in his heart when they would merely walk past him as if he were a stranger, and not a person they shared a bond with that only a very select few could ever begin to understand. He saw Hikari the most out of all the Chosen Children as they were in many of the same classes in school, but she like the rest did not speak to him or any of the other Chosen. It always pained to Takeru to be this way with her after they had had such a close relationship for so many years. They had a natural amicability towards each other as they just got along so easily it never was much of an effort to be around her or spend time with her. He thought that he maybe had romantic feelings towards her at one point before the schism, but he wasn't necessarily sure and knew that it did not matter anymore. All that he cared about was restoring things to the way they were, bringing the group back together. Romantic feelings or not he just missed his closest friend and confidant being in his life and he wanted more than anything to repair the seemingly indestructible friendship that had indeed been destroyed five years ago today.

In school and around town he would often hear girls chattering about the newest developments with The Teenage Wolves, his brother Yamato's band, which of course would lead to the painful reminder that he was estranged from his older brother who he had grown up idolizing. Of course he and Yamato had been estranged following their parent's divorce, but they still made every effort to see each other when they could so things were alright. Now, however, they were estranged by choice, which hurt much worse than any circumstantial separation ever could. He missed looking to his brother for cool headed wisdom when he was in times of crisis. He missed having that watchful older brother who always could understand exactly what was going on in his life and sought fiercely to protect him from the evils of the world. More than anything though he just missed having a brother. Ever since their parents divorce every minute he was able to spend with Yamato was precious to him beyond anything he owned, as just being around his brother made him feel content, happy, and safe. Being around Yamato just felt right to Takeru and now that they hadn't spoken in 5 years everything just felt so wrong. For all intents and purposes Takeru was now an only child and that just did not sit well with him. He needed his brother in his life and he suspected that Yamato somewhere deep in the recesses of his heart felt exactly the same way as him. The only issue was how to access that part of his heart and how to dispel the bitterness that clouded his mind. Yamato being the child of friendship should have been able to understand how wrong this schism amongst the chosen children was incredibly dumb and potentially dangerous to all of their well beings. Before the chosen children had come together they had all been incomplete in one way or another, but together they helped to make everyone in the group complete individuals helping to complement each other's strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. In Takeru's opinion Yamato should have known better and should have fought by his side in the struggle to keep the group together, but alas just like the rest of them Yamato was too proud and bitter to listen to reason and went his own way in life.

* * *

A beep from his watch indicating that it was now 11 A.M. broke Takeru out of his musings, as he realized he was running late for basketball practice. He hurriedly finished packing his change of clothes and rushed out the door to the Takaishi apartment in order to try to cover the 2 mile distance between his home and the school in an impossibly short 15 minutes that would ensure him of being on time for practice. Takeru took punctuality for basketball very seriously as he was due to be the captain of the team once the season started in the late fall so he did not want to set a bad precedent for his teammates by showing up late to practices, even if they were optional summer practices. Coach Tateyama was a very strict and demanding coach who expected much of his players, especially the captain as he saw that the captain set the tone for the whole team. Takeru definitely did not want to be on the man's bad side going into his senior year for he knew that Coach Tateyama could make his life a living hell, or at least slightly worse than it already was. Takeru relished any sort of activity with basketball team nowadays as they were the closest thing he had to friends in the aftermath of the schism amongst the chosen children. He knew that he desperately craved and needed this type of team activity to help supplement the dearth of time he got to spend with his fellow chosen given that none of them were speaking to him or each other. It was part of his system for keeping sane and free of despair during these very dark times for him.

With these thoughts in mind he started his 2 mile sprint to Odaiba High School with a smile on his face, which was a rarity since the schism, but he could not help but feel happy to be heading to the first basketball practice of the preseason. At least there he could pretend that things were back to normal again and that the fight between the chosen had never happened. It was a form of denial, yes, but sometimes that was exactly what the heart needed to keep from hardening, at least in Takeru's opinion that was true, he was not sure that many others would agree with his opinion though. As he ran Takeru began to regret not paying more attention to the time while he was lost in thought in the middle of his packing. This was a particularly hot and muggy August day in Odaiba and it was not making the run pleasant at all. He was already feeling his clothes stick to his sweaty body and his mop of blonde hair started to sag into his eyes, all this before he was to participate in an intense basketball practice for 2 hours, he wondered if his body would have any water left after the practice or if he would just shrivel up like a raisin in the sun. Takeru had to question whether or not he was a masochist for putting himself through this intense bodily torture all to be only slightly late to an _optional_ summer practice. At least over the last 5 years he had stopped wearing his hats because wearing one in this situation might have caused his body to completely melt from the heat, and that was hardly an appealing option to him. Once the campus of Odaiba High came into view Takeru reached into his shorts pocket to check the time on his D3, which he still carried around religiously despite not truly having a reason to other than as a memento of his past adventures, and saw that it was 11:20 already, he was 5 minutes late, and he still had a half mile to go. Cursing under his breath Takeru gave a grunt as he picked up the pace for one last full long sprint to get to the school before he was any later for practice knowing full well that Coach Tateyama was going to make him run suicides for every minute he was late, so he was truly motivated to minimize that. Takeru finally reached the school 10 minutes late for practice dripping with sweat and gasping for breath, and proceeded to enter the gym and face whatever fate might befall him at practice, hoping that spontaneous combustion due to overheating was not a possibility.

* * *

3 hours later after a grueling practice complete with after practice suicides for being late to the practice without a legitimate excuse, Takeru emerged from the locker room in a new set of street clothes following his shower. He simultaneously felt exhausted and refreshed after the practice was over, but while to some it might be curious to him it was the status quo for this situation. He always found the grueling practices to be almost purifying in a way as they helped to keep his mind off the troubles that he was going through and he could reshape his entire world and existence to that court. He guessed it was that intense focus that led Coach Tateyama to name him captain at the end of his junior year, but he didn't like to dwell on things like that lest he let his ego grow too large. As he exited the school grounds Takeru's stomach began to growl and he started to mull over his options for food. Since his mother was busy working for the newspaper he was on his own for food, but that suited him just fine right now as he was not particularly in the mood for a wholesome home cooked meal after that practice. He decided that he would reward himself for that tough practice with some good old greasy fast food and he knew there was a great burger place on his route home so he decided that he would stop there. Amidst his daydreaming of double bacon cheese burgers with large fries on the side, Takeru could be quite the glutton sometimes, he failed to notice the brown haired man rapidly approaching him. As the man finally reached Takeru he clapped a hand on the blonde boy's shoulder and greeted him as if were an old friend, which in a way he was.

"Hello Takeru! Long time no see! What's it been like 6 years? Wow time flies when you're not saving the world eh?"

Takeru nearly jumped out of his skin after feeling the hand clap his shoulder out of nowhere and let out a strangled yelp as the sudden familiar greeting from the brown haired man he did not immediately recognize. He tried to speak, but could only babble unintelligibly as his mind was reeling from the shock and oddness of the situation.

"What? Gatomon got your tongue? I thought you'd happier to see me! Though I guess since I generally am not a bearer of good news it'd be understandable why you're not terribly enthused, but still no words for your old buddy. I'm hurt."

As Takeru examined the brown haired man the identity of this "stranger" finally clicked into place, the cream colored robes, the spiky brown hair with the short ponytail in back, the piercing blue eyes, the humor that was out of place for the situation. Of course it was him!

"Gennai?!"

Gennai beamed at Takeru's recognition of him before answering him with his one of a kind Gennai brand humor.

"Last time I checked that was me! Though it has been quite some time since I last checked maybe I should look into that. No matter there's far more important things we need to talk about Takeru so why don't we get down to business. No time to waste really."

Gennai's face hardened and turned more serious as he finished this last statement, finally showing the haunted look in his normally serene blue eyes. Takeru, however, was still to stunned to pick up on this as he was still reeling from the fact that Gennai was in the real world, standing right in front of him talking to him. It had been so long since he had seen him, in fact that was the last time had seen Patamon. His mind was racing trying to sort through all the possibilities that could explain Gennai's presence in the real world. He could only assume that it was not a social call, as that did not necessarily seem like Gennai's style. Besides if we were to visit anyone for social purposes it would obviously be Koushirou since they could truly go toe to toe in conversation. Takeru started to formulate a million questions for Gennai in his head and decided that now would be an opportune time to speak up again.

"B-but how? Why? What's going on?"

Gennai let out a long exasperated sigh as he waited for Takeru to fully recover from his shock and finish babbling before he could continue. After a few more minutes of half asked questions and other incoherent babbling from Takeru, Gennai put up a hand to quiet him so that he could deliver his vital message before time ran out.

"Please listen very carefully to what I have to say to you Child of Hope, it is crucial information and I only have the time to tell you once. The fate of two worlds depends on you and the rest of the Chosen Children doing exactly as I say. I am aware of the...shall we say issues that have arisen amongst you and the rest of the Chosen over the past few years, but now it is imperative that the group reunite and put aside their differences in order to confront this new threat that is unlike any that you have ever faced before. I will explain more once you have accomplished your task of reuniting the group, which is the imperative first step in this process."

Takeru started to feel insulted and indignant that Gennai could have stayed away for the last 5 years while their group had completely dissolved all the while knowing about it and doing nothing to step in. Furthermore, he was telling Takeru, the one who had been trying to get the group back together ever since that fateful day five years ago, that it was now imperative that they come back together. In Takeru's opinion Gennai was either highly arrogant or incredibly ignorant, possibly both. No matter what the case was though Takeru of all people did not need to be told that it was imperative for the twelve Chosen Children to reunite and repair those bridges that had been burned so long ago, he had know that from the get go, yet here he was being lectured on the importance of their reunification. He was going to give Gennai a piece of his mind whether he liked it or not.

"I understand that you are annoyed with me for having this information and not doing anything about it. However, after consulting with the sovereign we felt it would be best if we stayed out of the matter completely as it was something that while not ideal needed to be allowed to run its course."

Takeru recoiled at this statement losing all the venom and invective that he was about to spew at Gennai, as the man had seemingly read his mind and preemptively responded to what he was about to say. Gennai cleared his throat to get Takeru's attention once again before continuing on with his debriefing.

"As I previously stated once you reunite the Chosen Children you are all to go to the digital world immediately and meet me at my house, then and only then will I be able to explain the new threat to the digital world and yours that you and your fellow chosen will be dealing with. One at my house you will also be reunited with your partners who, it's safe to say, are eagerly anticipating your arrival so it would be in your best interest not to keep them waiting any longer. To answer your question about travel to the digital world, that I know you are about to ask, the gates to the digital world have been reopened and your digivices and D3s have been reactivated so you can travel as you normally would. Just beware though, once you arrive in the digital world you will find yourself unable to leave until your task has been completed, so be prepared for a long stay. My allotted time here in the real world is just about up and I need to return to the digital world. However, before I do I have been authorized by the Sovereigns to leave you with a parting gift that we all agree could prove instrumental in your efforts to reunify the Chosen Children. Lastly, before you ask the others must earn back what is theirs, while you have proven yourself worthy through this tumultuous period to take back that which is yours. Farewell for now Takeru I will see you soon in the digital world."

As he finished speaking Gennai produced a small black box from within his robes and gently handed it to Takeru before fading out of existence. Takeru stared blankly at the spot where Gennai had just been his mouth slightly agape in astonishment, while his mind raced to process all the information that he had just been given. "_What kind of threat could be great enough that Gennai had to come to the real world in person to alert me?"_ Takeru shuddered at this thought fearing the worst for the fate of the digital world and all the friends they had made there over the years, hoping that no harm had befallen them. He then started to focus on Gennai's cryptic departing message as well as the mysterious gift he had given him. "_What does he mean that I am worthy? What exactly am I taking back? I still have my D3 and he already said that Patamon will be meeting me in the digital world so it can't be him. What did he mean about the others needed to earn what is theirs? To the best of my knowledge everyone still has their digivices and D3s and he said they were also meeting their partners in the digital world. What kind of possession would they need to earn, that I'm already worthy of? None of this makes any sense."_ Frustrated with his musings not providing any more clarity to Gennai's cryptic words Takeru kicked a random pebble as hard as he could and let a loud frustrated sigh. "_Maybe this gift he gave me will have the answers. He did seem to think it was pretty important and plus if it helps me bring my friends back together it has to be something pretty good."_ Quickly finding a nearby public bench to sit down on Takeru cautiously opened the black box. His eyes suddenly widened and he let out a soft gasp as he instantly recognized what was on the contents of the box. Just then Gennai's final cryptic statements became plain as day and Takeru knew exactly what he was talking about when he was talking about the others having to earn back what was theirs. The sight of this object just filled him with such warmth and joy that he had not felt for years. He could not believe that it was back. He felt as if a missing piece of his soul was restored as he stared at the golden object embedded in the box. For the first time in years he felt whole again and he now knew that he could take on the nigh impossible task of reuniting the digidestined. When he had this he felt as though anything was possible. The crest of hope had returned and he now knew everything would be ok again.

* * *

Please review, flame, anything all feedback is appreciated as it helps me to become a better writer. The story will not be this much of a downer the whole time, it's a cathartic story at the end of the day so there needs to be some pain on the front end in order to help boost the value of future triumphs. I'm not sure how often I'll update this as just this one chapter was very difficult to write, but it will be updated.


	2. Wisdom to Move Forward

A/N: So this was a very frustrating chapter to write as I tried to incorporate helpful criticisms I received on my first chapter into this one and may have drawn away focus from the content itself. I also am unsure about the effectiveness of the flashback scene I put in as a source of exposition. Also, I kind of had to figure out where I wanted to go with the story, which I _think_ I have a handle on. Anywho please read and review I really appreciate any criticism I can get because it only serves to make me improve.

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the quoted lyrics below.

* * *

_Does the pain weigh out the pride?_  
_And you look for a place to hide?_  
_Did someone break your heart inside?_  
_You're in ruins_

_"21 Guns" -Green Day_

Everything suddenly seemed so clear. It was as if a blindfold had been removed from his eyes and he could plainly see what he needed to do. How could he not see all this before? Why was it so obvious now, when before it seemed so perplexing and impossible? Takeru smiled as the realization came to him, as to why he suddenly felt like he knew exactly what to do.

"I have hope again."

Takeru spoke softly since he was the only intended audience for these words, but he needed to say them out loud for them to have the same feel. It was not that he had ever lost hope, not losing hope was the entire reason he was given his crest back, but rather his crest somehow made his hope feel more real and complete. He couldn't necessarily put his finger on it, but he just knew that he felt right again, after feeling so adrift for the last five years.

As he stared at his crest Takeru's thoughts started to shift back to the task at hand. He knew that the danger had to be extremely pressing for the crests to have come back into existence and to necessitate the intervention of all twelve Chosen Children. He knew that he could not delay in reuniting the Chosen Children, so he needed to have a sound plan in mind for confronting each one of them and getting them to come back together.

Takeru knew that the whoever he decided on seeking out first would be crucial to his efforts, as how could he convince eleven disparate people to come together if he couldn't even convince one of them. Furthermore, this person would be key in lending a fresh perspective on how to approach the other chosen.

Taking all these factors into consideration Takeru decided that it would be best if he avoided the more impulsive members of the group who might let their negative emotions and pride force them from ignoring all reason until confronted by multiple parties. This effectively ruled out Daisuke, Taichi, Yolei, and Mimi from consideration given that they allowed their heart to overrule their head too often to make them likely to go along with just him.

Thinking some more Takeru realized that some of the group were far too introverted and often defeatist to be of much help in his task at this stage. There was also the fact that they would be difficult to bring out of the depths of their own misery and despair. No these were projects best left to multiple people taking on. With a resigned sigh he crossed Sora, Jyou, and Ken off his mental list as they would be too afraid to make that leap towards forgiveness on their own, so they would need help from others.

Usually there would be two particular Chosen that he would immediately go to in any situation that he need help in, but given the circumstances at the present time he wasn't sure he himself could face Yamato or Hikari just yet. He just needed time to overcome the wounds that their previous denials of his attempts at reconciliation had given him. He knew that it would be ok in time, his crest practically assured him of it in a strange way, but he truly needed every bit of that time.

This finally left Takeru with only two Chosen and they both seemed to him to be ideal options. They fit the bill as for exactly what he was looking for: pragmatism. He knew that these two were far too pragmatic and erudite to let past squabbles undermine a greater cause. In fact, they would both most likely join in with no reservations and would be extremely helpful in plotting a course forward from this point.

So now Takeru's decision was down to Koushiro and Iori, arguably the two most intelligent of the group. He half-heartedly wished he had one of them to look to for advice on making this decision as their input had always been most crucial and often life saving in times of crisis. They both had their merits and their faults, many of which were shared between the two, making this difficult decision migraine inducing.

Takeru ultimately decided between the two Chosen using illogical gut reasoning that both of them would frown upon if they knew he had used it, but he pushed that thought to the side as he considered his decision. He had chosen to go to Iori first purely because he felt closer to him, having been DNA-Digivolution partners during their last adventure. Also, he chose Iori due to the that he would face less questions from Iori, as opposed to the full on barrage of questions Koushiro would ultimately hit him with.

With his decision firmly made Takeru took off toward his apartment building where Iori also happened to live. He was actually quite pleased with his decision as he knew that Iori would be the perfect person to start with given his pragmatism he would not really question the veracity of what he was saying and would fully understand the gravity of the situation.

"_For his age Iori always did have wisdom beyond his years. No doubt he'll be able to help me get to the others as well."_

Keeping this thought in mind Takeru took a deep breath as he finally arrived at the door to the Hida residence. Takeru prepared to knock knowing full well that the end result of this conversation had the fate of two worlds riding on it.

"_No pressure."_

* * *

Letting out an exasperated sigh Iori Hida put down the novel he had in his hand and got up from his armchair and walked to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He had been trying to read this novel all afternoon, but had been unable to focus for more than a sentence at a time. Ever since catching sight of the calendar in his family's kitchen his mind had been clouded by thoughts of that fateful day five years ago.

Iori had generally been successful in his efforts not to think about the events that day that had lead to his group of friends splitting apart, but every so often, usually when Takeru showed up to bug him to reconcile with the others and himself, the memories of that day would come rushing back. With these memories the painful emotions of that day would bubble to the surface again.

Iori was resolute in his stance that his reasons for splitting with the others were more than justifiable. This was about much more than the loss of access to their partners and the digital world. No, there were deep personal issues he had with many members of the group and their treatment of him and each other.

As he walked this line of thought the memories of his experiences that day began to replay in his mind…

* * *

*5 years ago*

_It was a beautiful bright sunny day in Odaiba, which was perfect for the planned gathering of the Japanese Chosen Children for their anniversary celebration. The Chosen Children had gone to great lengths to ready __Shiokaze park for their big day. They had blankets set up, food was being brought by the various members of the team, and there were many activities planned._

_This atmosphere that was supposed to be joyous and festive was all of a sudden pierced by yelling, screaming, arguing, and crying. The Chosen Children over the last few months had begun to experience some friction amongst the Chosen due various personal issues that had been brewing since their adventures together. However, due to the importance of their mission to save two worlds these issues had been swept aside for the most part in order to serve the greater good._

_Now that their mission had been completed and both the digital and human world had been saved there was no longer a need to suppress these resentments for the sake of their mission. The separation from their partners and the digital world only added fuel to the fire of the resentment and anger that was growing within the Chosen. Their anniversary gathering finally served as the ultimate powder keg that broke the dam holding back these resentments and brought them out into the open._

_Iori in particular was incensed with the members of his team over their lack of respect for him. He had been feeling this way ever since they had completely ignored his words of caution when they welcomed Ken Ichijouji to the group with open arms. They did not even make him prove himself to be reformed from his days as the Emperor. When Iori suggested it he was rebuked harshly and treated like an enemy or upset child._

_However, the most galling incident where he was not given respect by the others was after the defeat of MaloMyotismon he had tried to drag a dying Oikawa from the dream world into the digital world so that he could finally fulfill his dream of getting there. However, the others merely stared at him like he had two heads for attempting to fulfill a dying man's lifelong dream, as if it was such a strange thing to do._

_Now on the day of the original Chosen Children's anniversary of going to the Digital World the feeling he had been keeping inside could no longer be contained and he lashed out at his fellow Chosen._

"_I am so sick of the way all you treat me! Just because I'm the youngest does not mean I don't have anything to contribute or that my opinions don't matter! Hell, I think I contribute far more than Daisuke, despite his nominal position of leader, which none of us ever consented to. I honestly think that my life would be far better off without any of you in it! You are all holding me back with your lack of respect, and it's time for me to find people who will appreciate what I have to offer."_

_With that Iori turned on his heel and marched out of the park leaving behind a group of dumbfounded, incensed, upset Chosen Children who could only watch as he left._

* * *

***Present Day***

That day had been the last time he had spoken with any of them, except Takeru who still tried to pester him to reconcile after all this time, and he was slightly saddened by the thought even though he still firmly believed he was in the right.

Turning his thoughts to his DNA-Digivolution partner Iori couldn't help but shake his head in slight disappointment and pity for the Child of Hope.

"_Takeru you are so unbelievably misguided in your way of thinking. This schism runs so much deeper than you think. How can you allow yourself to be so blind to the truth that sometimes even the closest of friends often go their own separate ways in life. Just let it go and move on with your life, stop clinging to the past it will only bring you sadness."_

In truth, the only reason Iori even bothered to let Takeru try to badger him into reuniting with the other Chosen Children was because he felt sorry for him. He felt sorry that Takeru couldn't come to terms with the fact that the damage done was close to irreparable and nothing short of a miracle could even begin to fix what had been broken. Of this Iori was certain.

Content that he had finally parsed out his thoughts enough to return to his book Iori began to walk back to his bedroom from the bathroom, only to be interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing and his mother walking to answer it.

"I'll get it!"

Satisfied with the knowledge that his mother would deal with whatever visitor or salesperson happened to be at the door, Iori resumed walking back to his room, only to be stopped once again, this time by his mother.

"Iori! Your friend Takeru is here to see you! He says it's urgent!"

Iori frowned at this. Takeru stopping by randomly was nothing new, but the fact that he said it was "urgent" was most definitely something new. He generally stopped by under the pretenses of a social visit or to discuss some school work or project. However, claiming that this was something urgent struck Iori as odd as he racked his brain about what he could find as an urgent reason to come talk to Iori.

"_This had better not be about reconciling with the others again. We've been over that enough times already."_

Iori walked towards the foyer of his family's apartment to greet Takeru, but stopped short upon seeing him. There was something undeniably different about him today, but Iori could not quite place his finger on it.

Scrutinizing his blond friend further in an attempt to parse out what exactly different about him Iori took account of his superficial appearance. Takeru was dressed rather simply in a white t-shirt, that had some American sports brand on it that Iori did not recognize, with washed out jeans and casual sneakers, but that was pretty much in keeping with what had been his style for a few years now.

"_So he hasn't changed his look. Not that he would really do something like that. But what's different"_

Iori was broken out of his scrutinizing as his friend began to speak.

"It's great to see you again Iori, it's been too long really. When was the last time we talked? March? Yeah well I bet we'll be seeing a whole lot more of each other real soon."

Iori could only stare blankly in response. He was dumbfounded by this drastic change in Takeru's demeanor from the last time he had seen him. As far as Iori could remember Takeru had been rather desperate, frantic, and on the verge of despair as he practically begged Iori to reconsider his stance on reconciling with the other Chosen. However, today Takeru seemed almost like a completely different person, much more confident, happy, and just generally at peace.

"_It's like he was when we first met. What possibly could have happened for him to be like this again? Have the others decided to reconcile? No, I would have definitely heard about it, right? What is it then?"_

As if reading his thoughts Takeru immediately continued speaking despite the lack of response.

"So yeah there's some very important things we should talk about, but maybe we should do it in private. No offense to your mother of course, but this is really something that just the two of us should speak about."

As he finished speaking Takeru motioned towards the hallway leading to Iori's room.

"Shall we?"

Iori merely gave a curt nod at this as he was still too overwhelmed by this drastic change in his fellow Chosen to speak. He subsequently started to lead Takeru back to his room and once there closed the door behind him and turned to face the taller boy who was suddenly looking as if he was lost in deep thought. Not wanting to break him out of his contemplation Iori stayed quiet waiting for Takeru to break the silence.

Suddenly opening his deep blue eyes to meet Iori's gaze Takeru decided to speak up.

"We have to go back."

"_Go back? Where? No. We can't. We tried. But…"_

The very plain manner that Takeru had said this in, as if it was a fact, and not an opinion or a request, had caught Iori off guard. His mind was reeling trying to process what his former friend had just said to him and the implications thereof. Iori opened his mouth to try to respond, but found that words were failing him in this moment. So he just said the first thing that came to find.

"B-but we can't."

Iori was disgusted with himself for sounding so timid and unsure of himself, but in this moment he truly was unsure of himself and his whole reality. He quickly drew his eyes up from the floor where had been staring since he blurted out his terrible response to Takeru's statement and looked to gauge the blonde's reaction.

"_He's...grinning?"_

"You know after Gennai told me that I had to reunite our group, I can honestly say the reactions to my revelation was what I was looking forward to the most, and boy did you not disappoint Iori. Quickly to address your doubts before you keel over from the shock of what I just told you, yes I mean the digital world when I say 'We have to go back.' Gennai visited me in the flesh, I think? Not really sure if he can become flesh or not, but that's besides the point."

Takeru let out an awkward chuckle at his own flight of ideas before being prompted to return to the topic at hand by a cough from Iori.

"Anyway he told me the digital world was in grave danger and that we were all to return there to help ward it off. Our partners are supposedly waiting for us at his house, so the sooner you recover the sooner we can go about rounding up the others and eventually reunite with our partners. So sound good?"

Iori just stood there mouth agape still trying and failing to comprehend how one visit from a former friend could turn his entire life and sense of reality upside down. He had been convinced that they would never get to back to the digital world again and that they would never see their partners again. He had made his peace with it, but if Takeru was to be believed then…

"_Armadillomon...I've missed him so much. More than I've been willing to admit to myself. I thought he'd be just like my father someone who left me far too soon. I want this to be true so badly, but there's something in my heart that is afraid to believe. What is it? Why am I so afraid to believe?"_

Once again it seemed Takeru was reading his mind as a knowing smile formed on the taller boy's face. He studied Iori for a second, seeming to make certain that what he was correct in his assumption about what Iori was thinking.

"Gennai must have known that you and the others would have trouble believing. It's understandable the last five years have been so miserable that we've all hardened our hearts and become deeply cynical. That must have been why he gave me this. I should have known it was more than a token of good faith."

Now Iori was legitimately confused. He couldn't understand for the life of him what Takeru was talking about. What could Gennai have given that would suddenly alleviate his doubts? He didn't see Patamon anywhere so he knew it wasn't that.

Suddenly Iori was broken out of his thoughts as he saw Takeru reaching under his shirt to pull something out. It was then that Iori first noticed a string around Takeru's neck that was not usually present. His mind boggled to figure out what could possibly be at the end of it, as Takeru pulled it out into full view.

What he saw made him gasp. Iori had never actually seen it in person, but rather had heard of it several times, and he was certain that what Takeru was currently holding was indeed the Crest of Hope. He easily recognized the symbol on it as matching the Digi-Egg of Hope that Takeru had owned during their adventure five years ago. He was awestruck seeing it for the first time, as it seemed to give off a powerful radiance unlike anything he had ever experienced.

It was then that his logical mind kicked into overdrive and he immediately found himelf questioning the sudden presence of this trinket.

"Impossible…weren't the crests destroyed by Apocalymon? And then didn't you give up the remaining power to restore the digital world? How is it back? Why is it back?"

Takeru suddenly seemed slightly perturbed at this line of questioning as he let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Haven't you been listening? I told you already the digital world is in danger and we have to go back. The crest is obviously back in existence because the digital world needs it to act as more than a barrier once again. Can't you understand how dire things must be if the crests are needed again? I came to you before any of the other Chosen because I thought you of all people would understand how serious this situation is and how now is the time to take action."

Iori was momentarily rendered speechless by what Takeru had said, as his words cut to the core. Takeru was relying on him to understand that some things rose above personal issues that were long in the past. Takeru was taking an extraordinary leap of faith coming to him first. Before Yamato, before Hikari, before Taichi, before Daisuke even.

"Why me?"

Takeru's frown suddenly disappeared and as his lips turned upwards in a slight smile. If he didn't know any better he might have guessed Takeru was slightly embarrassed at the fact that Iori had realized that he had come to him instead of his brother or best friend, and the implications behind this action.

"Because," Takeru drew a deep breath as he prepared to continue. "Out of all the Chosen you've always been the wisest. You have always been able to take emotion out of your decisions and just look at the facts. I need you to do just that now. I recognize that you had some issues with the others, but whatever they were they are in the past now and we need to focus on the future."

Takeru let his words sink in before finishing with a question, "Are you ready?"

Iori was forced into deep thought by this diatribe and concluding question from Takeru and was grateful that Takeru allowed him the courtesy to think in peace and quiet without being pressured. Takeru always seemed to understand him in that way, knowing when to keep quiet when he needed to think and also when to pry when he needed to open up instead of internalizing.

As Iori searched for the answer within himself, he suddenly realized that something felt different in his heart since Takeru had shown him the crest. It felt as if his heart was suddenly much lighter than it had been at any point in the last five years and he was having trouble holding on to his resentments towards his fellow Chosen Children. In truth he felt more like himself than he had in a long time.

"_This is how things should be. Why have I been hiding from it so long? How could I let the pain and anger blind to me what's truly important to me? How could I let this go on for so long?"_

As Iori's thoughts continued he began to become more and more upset as his guilt over his actions from the past few years threatened to overwhelm him. Finally, the emotional dam broke and he started crying bitterly out of disgust with himself for how he had acted towards those who had once been so important to him.

He just could not hold back these emotions anymore they were so po and even though they were painful he wanted to experience them because in a way they seemed so much more real than the anger and bitterness he had been hanging on to for the last five years.

"Forgive yourself and move on. Like I said earlier the past is in the past. It's time to look towards the future."

Iori, startled by these words and the sudden presence of Takeru's hand on his shoulder, jerked away from the contact and fell down. Once he regained his bearings on the floor he was shocked to hear laughter coming from Takeru as the older boy seemed to find the extremely emotionally complex situation Iori was currently in to be quite funny. However, his laughter proved to be infectious and Iori found himself joining in as he reveled in the opportunity to let his tensions fade away.

After a few minutes the two Chosen regained their composure and returned to Takeru's lingering question of whether or not Iori was ready to help in his quest to reunite the Chosen Children and save the digital world. As Iori prepared to answer he was filled with a pervasive sense of calm as he could suddenly see plain as day what his answer would be.

"Yes. I'm ready, but where do we go from here? How do we convince the others to come back? Do we even know what we're up against?"

Takeru was beaming at the answer Iori gave as well as the follow up questions.

"It's good to have you back Iori."

Frustrated with the non-answer Iori decided to press the issue.

"But who's next? We can't just improvise, you should know better than that, or at least I hope you do."

"Well, since time is of the essence why don't we stay local and go pay Miyako a visit, I mean she can't kill both of us right?"

Iori agreed with him and they set out for Miyako's apartment a couple floors up. On the way Iori couldn't help but smile at how quickly his life had turned around in the thirty minutes he spent with Takeru so far this afternoon. He felt as though the anger and sadness of the last five years was all a bad nightmare from which he had finally woken up. Now he was ready to move on and was excited for the opportunity to help his friends do the same.

* * *

Hopefully that wasn't too painful to read I'm just not super comfortable writing Iori's point of view so it'd be a pleasant surprise if it turns out ok. Please review it really does help me out!

In case anyone is really interested in this story enough to wonder about these sorts of things Hikari and Yamato won't be showing up for another few chapters, but when they do it will be a grand occasion.


	3. The Need for Compassion

So I'm not particularly happy with the way this chapter came out and it was very frustrating to write, but maybe I'm overly critical who knows. Hope you enjoy it and please leave a review of any kind, I do genuinely appreciate them and try to respond to all of them.

* * *

_And the tears come streaming down your face_

_When you lose something you can't replace_

_When you love someone, but it goes to waste_

_Could it be worse?_

"_Fix You" -Coldplay_

The elevator doors slowly creaked opened and any joyous feelings that Takeru was feeling over his successful reunion with Iori were quickly replaced with a crushing anxiety. His stomach turned and he gulped a he prepared to step out onto Miyako's floor.

He had chosen to go to Iori first because he had been confident that the younger Chosen would listen to reason and accept the evidence once it was presented to him. Iori was always reasonable like that. Takeru had learned through their adventure to be very grateful for this level headedness, as it proved to be a huge boon to their cause especially when it concerned their more impulsive friends.

Takeru stole a quick glance at Iori as they walked in silence down the hall. Iori was just staring straight ahead, seemingly thinking about something else. Iori had always been somewhat of a mystery to Takeru as he found the boy guarded his emotions very well and thus was very hard tp read. Even after they had become DNA-Digivolution partners he still never quite felt the connection with Iori that his other friends had raved about experiencing with their partners.

Reflecting on this it made it all the more surprising to him that Iori had broken down in front of him earlier that afternoon. He hadn't seen the younger Chosen exhibit that kind of emotion since that fateful day five years ago.

"_I guess these last few years have been as painful for him as they have for me," _Takeru mused to himself as he continued to take quick looks as his younger compatriot. Iori had always been one of the strongest individuals of the group and seeing him break down like that made Takeru wonder how the others would handle the reality he needed to confront them with.

'_Miyako was always a bit high-strung under the best of circumstances...God only knows what kind of state she'll be in now…'_ Takeru shuddered at this thought. Suddenly he found Iori staring at him with a curious expression on his face as he seemed to notice his sudden change in demeanor.

Iori continued to stare at him before saying, "You're nervous." It was a statement and not a question. Takeru knew that Iori was a particularly perceptive person and his shudder was hardly subtle, but still it unnerved him to have his insecurities stated out loud.

Exhaling he replied, "Yeah. I mean I guess I shouldn't, it's only Miyako, but still I just can't…" He trailed off grunting in frustration at the absurdity of the situation. Things were so much easier five years ago when they were still friends. Heck even when they were strangers on his first day going to school in Odaiba it was easy to get along with her. Why was it so awkward now?

Suddenly the explanation for his nervousness came unbidden to his mind, '_Because you have an agenda.'_ Curiously enough this thought also helped to soothe his jangling nerves a little, since it refocused him on his task. '_People are depending on me. I can't let them down.'_

As he shook himself out of his own thoughts, Takeru realized that they had finally arrived at the door to the Inoue apartment. Takeru decided now would be a good time to broach the topic of how to exactly approach Miyako with the news that they had to give her about the immediate need to return to the digital world and get the group back together.

He had always found that Iori had quite a way with Miyako when it came to pacifying her. The younger Chosen seemed to always know what to say in order to stop Miyako from killing Daisuke during their more heated arguments. This always struck Takeru as rather miraculous, as he could not fathom what to do in those situations often instead choosing to watch in amusement while offering joking observations to Hikari.

Grimacing at this last thought, he pushed it out of his mind and turned to Iori and asked, "So what's the plan?"

Takeru watched Iori expectantly as he tried to puzzle out a satisfactory response to this question that had just been posed. Finally, after a few seconds that had seemed like an eternity to Takeru, he finally got his answer as Iori spoke up in a calm voice laced with hints of stress, "I think the best thing to do is to lay it all out there from the start. Miyako, as you know, is fairly impatient, especially when she finds someone unpleasant as I'm sure is the case with the two of us at the moment."

As he listened a wry smile appeared on Takeru's face as he remembered how amusing an angry Miyako could be, especially when the anger was not directed at him. "So basically what you're saying is we need to tell her everything before she can kick us out or kill us right?" Takeru quipped as he started to gain confidence that between him and Iori they would be able to get through to Miyako. If anything they were the two Chosen that Miyako respected most. That gave them a fighting chance at the very least.

Deciding to get back on a more serious track before dealing with Miyako, Takeru decided to see if he Iori could provide any info on what Miyako had been doing in the last five years since they had split up, given that Takeru's only visit to her and resulted in him having obscenities screamed at him and a door slammed in his face. Shoving aside that unpleasant memory Takeru got Iori's attention again and asked, "Do know anything about what Miyako has been like the last five years? This way we won't be flying blind when we go to talk to her. No shocks y'know?"

Iori bowed his head and looked at the ground in shame as he answered saying, "Well, after we split I was just so angry and disgusted with the group that I didn't bother to pay attention to how anyone else was doing. Anytime I thought about any of you it just brought up all those old emotions that I didn't want to deal with, so I just did my best to forget about everyone."

Takeru felt his heart go out to Iori as he truly sympathized with him, even though he had never given up on reuniting the Chosen, he knew that Iori had been and still was struggling with emotions he didn't understand. Takeru knew that Iori had truly been through a dark time these last five years and given that the younger boy was arguably the most emotionally stable of the Chosen, he could only shudder to think what the others must be going through.

Acting quickly to make sure that Iori did not start down a path of self loathing Takeru put a hand on Iori's shoulder and crouched down to meet his eyes, as Iori's head was still bowed, "Iori you can't blame yourself for what's happened. I mean what happened was awful, but now is not the time for thinking about it. You've had five years to do that. You have a chance to fix your mistakes, focus on that instead of a stupid fight from five years ago."

Iori's only reply was to give Takeru a look that was a cross between startled and relieved. Takeru could tell Iori was startled by how blunt he had been with him, but at the same time was relieved by the knowledge that he had the chance to atone for his mistakes. Suddenly it dawned on Takeru how great a gift they had been given by fate.

"_This is such an amazing opportunity to fix everything that me messed up five years ago. This is what we all need."_

Takeru was broken out of his thoughts as he met Iori's eyes again as the younger boy motioned towards the door with his head, silently indicating that they should get on with the task at hand. Nodding in affirmation Takeru rose from his crouch and rapped his knuckles on the door, swallowing hard and saying a silent prayer that things would go as well as they did with Iori.

* * *

Letting out a frustrated groan a lavender haired girl collapsed face first on her bed, burying her face in her pillows hoping that sleep would come quickly to her. Miyako Inoue had just finished working a double-shift at Ai-Mart, her family's convenience store, and wanted nothing more than to sleep until she had to go to work again the next day.

On this particular day, however, Miyako was finding it extremely difficult to fall asleep despite her exhaustion. She knew what today was and all the awful memories it represented. It made an already tedious day unbearable. She had spent the better part of the last five years trying to do everything, but think about those memories and those people who had once been such an integral part of her life. They had been the most important people in her life, but they were all gone from her life.

She still remembered that day clearly, much to her chagrin. The memories of that fateful day always were extraordinarily painful for her to look back on, but as much as she tried to run from them she couldn't escape. Miyako understood that the Chosen had several issues with each other prior to that day, but what group of friends didn't? As she reflected on how the events unfolded five years ago she remembered that things started to truly get ugly after Iori had stormed off…

* * *

_The younger team of Chosen just stood there dumbfounded with their mouths agape. They were rooted in place due to the shock of what had just occurred. Iori had never blown up at them like that. He had always been so calm and levelheaded throughout their adventure no matter what the circumstance. His composure was unassailable, or so it seemed._

"_Um guys...what just happened?" Daisuke asked, breaking the silence by voicing the question that was on everyone in the group's minds._

"_Isn't it obvious? He obviously hates all of you for associating with me." Ken answered with a cold curt voice that no one had heard him use since his days as emperor. "It's probably best if I leave and you guys go get him back. It's for the best."_

_Miyako couldn't stand hearing this. She found nothing more infuriating than Iori's obsession with distrusting Ken due to his past sins. Miyako couldn't understand how a perceptive kid like Iori continued to be so blind to the fact that Ken had been manipulated by MaloMyotismon when he was at his most vulnerable. In her opinion Ken's subsequent obsession with fixing the damage he had caused in the digital world was reason enough to forgive him._

"_Stop it Ken! Just because that little jerk can't get off his high horse long enough to see how good of a person you are doesn't mean you should leave! If you do that he'll never learn how wonderful of a person you are! You have to let him see how great you are!" Miyako took a deep breath staring Ken in the eyes to make sure he knew how sincere her words were, before continuing in a much softer voice than before, "Please Ken just try for me, for all of us."_

_This plea did not seem to have the intended effect as Ken's expression suddenly changed from despairing to annoyance. He began t glare at Miyako before speaking up again in that same cold voice that he had used earlier, the same voice that always gave Miyako the chills, saying, "Try?! Try?! What do you think I've been doing Miyako?! All I've been doing for the last ten months is try! If you don't realize that he's never going to forgive me for what I've done then you're either ignorant or just plain dumb. So which one is it Miyako? Because based on the silence from the others they all seem to recognize that I'm right."_

_These words cut Miyako to the core. She had never expected to hear such venom from Ken who had shown himself to be the kindest person she had ever met. Someone who would never want to hurt a soul. But what he had just said went against all that. Her mind was reeling trying to process all the feelings that these words summoned up and she just couldn't find any words to respond. Instead she choked out a sob starting to break down from the hurt she just experienced._

_Suddenly as if on instinct, retaliating against something that had just caused her pain, Miyako slapped Ken across the face leaving a large red mark on his cheek. "Iori was right about you Ken! You never changed! I've been your biggest defender and this is how you treat me?! Screw you Ken!" With that Miyako stormed away from the group all the while crying and cursing Ken's name. She had never been more hurt or angry in her life. She knew that her time as a member of this group had ended._

* * *

Miyako was broken out of her thoughts by a persistent noise coming from somewhere outside her room. Sitting up and shaking off the cobwebs she recognized that this sound was actually coming from the front door to her family's apartment. Someone was knocking on the door, rather persistently. Waiting to hear if any of her siblings or parents were home Miyako just sat in bed and listened to the knocking.

Finally realizing that no one else was around to get the door and that she would have to do it herself Miyako jumped out of bed and headed for the door grumbling along the way. Once she reached the door she swung it up open rather firmly having decided to give whoever had been annoying her with their knocking a piece of her mind. However, once she laid her eyes upon the two boys who were standing at her doorstep the words died in her throat.

"W-what? No." Miyako choked out as her throat started to tighten from the oncoming emotional distress caused by these two boys presence. She couldn't take seeing them anymore, it was far too painful. She needed to get away from them now and with that in mind she went to slam the door in their faces so as to give them a clear message to leave.

This proved unsuccessful as Takeru managed to react quickly enough to jam his foot in the door to stop it from closing. Fixing Miyako with a deadly serious look with an underlying sense of extreme urgency in his eyes that she hadn't seen since Hikari had disappeared six years ago, he spoke up saying, "Miyako let us in. We need to talk right now. The digital world needs us."

The almost desperate look in his eyes told her instantly he wasn't lying, even though she knew he wasn't the type to lie. Looking at Iori now she saw a more interesting set of emotions in his expression as he looked rigidly determined, but also underneath that determination there seemed to be a sense of relief. '_Why does he seem relieved? Does it have something to do with him and Takeru being together?'_

Waiting a beat for either of the two boys to speak up Miyako quickly became frustrated as they remained silent. Deciding that she would have to take the initiative if anything were to happen anytime soon she broke the silence, "Well? What is it? You come barging up to my door out of nowhere rambling about the digital world and then you stop talking all of a sudden? What the hell is going on? Tell me right now!"

The two boys shuddered a bit at Miyako's sudden outburst, but she was undeterred and continued to glare at them until Iori let out a sigh, "Okay Miyako you have to promise to listen to what we have to say without interrupting. This is going to be a little hard to believe at first, but every word of it is true."

Miyako studied Iori's serious expression for a moment, considering saying something in reply before merely nodding for him to continue. Taking this cue Iori continued, "A few hours ago Gennai appeared here in the real world to tell Takeru that we are needed again in the digital world because there is some great threat there, that will potentially have ramifications for our world."

'_Gennai coming to the real world., but what could be so serious that he had to come here in person and not contact us through a computer? And why Takeru? Why not Koushiro? Koushiro's always the one bugging him so why not go to him? This is all so confusing"_

"I know you're probably thinking, why me and not Koushiro or Taichi or someone else like that right?"

Miyako's only response was to stare stupidly back at Takeru who had spoken for only the second time since he and Iori had arrived at her home. Looking him now there was still that solemn determination in his blue eyes, and she found it to be somewhat intimidating, yet captivating at the same time. She racked her mind trying to come up with a response, but couldn't come up with anything.

Takeru seemingly taking Miyako's lapse into silence as cue continued on with his explanation, "To be honest I don't exactly know. I have no idea what's been happening with Koushiro or Taichi or really any of the others in the last five years, but obviously something drastic has changed for Gennai to come to me. All I know is that he said the others had to earn their crests back, but he didn't tell me why or how."

"Wait you said the _others _have to earn their crests back, but what about _you._" Miyako quickly replied picking up on Takeru's peculiar choice of words. "You didn't say _we_ have to earn _our _crests back, so does that mean…"

As Miyako trailed off Takeru's face broke into a radiant smile, the one that seemed in Miyako's opinion to always just look right on Takeru's face. He suddenly reached inside his shirt and took out what Miyako could only assume was his crest. She had never actually seen it before, but it bore the same symbol that was on Pegasusmon's chest.

"He said that I earned the right to get this back because I never gave up hope. I guess he was right because I never stopped carrying my D3 with me because I felt like we were always going to get the chance to go back. I knew that I needed to hold onto hope even when the rest of you lost it. It was all I could do to try and maybe one day reunite our group. For me our bond as Chosen is more important than anything in my life. Nobody will ever understand us like we understand each other, and that's why I was so upset that everyone turned their backs on it so easily."

"Now do you understand Miyako?" Iori started with a passionate look in his eyes. "I know that you've had issues with all of us, especially me, but please find a way to forgive us for our mistakes. We need you Miyako. Whatever the Digital World has in store for us is something that is going to require all twelve of us working together again. I know that I am a changed person from five years ago, so maybe if you'll give me a chance to prove that to you. If not for me will you at least do it for Hawkmon, I know for a fact that he wouldn't want us all to be at odds. Please can you find it in your heart to show me some compassion and forgive me for what I've done."

"This...it's all so much. What the hell? When did everything get so heavy again? Why can't we just go back to being normal people?" Miyako moaned while sliding down the door frame so that she was sitting down.

Takeru squatted down so that he was eye level with Miyako and looking into her eyes he said, "Miyako, you know you don't mean that. How different would your life be if you never met Hawkmon and were just a normal person? Do you really think you'd be any happier? I know in my case that the Digital World and Patamon are the two best things that have happened to me in my life. I would never trade any of it. I know deep down you feel the same way You're stronger than this Miyako. Don't let your fear control you."

Miyako buried her face in her hands as she thought about Takeru and Iori's words. '_How could I have given up on everyone? I was always the one preaching that we had to work as a team when Takeru and Davis were fighting, how could I stop believing that? How could I willingly turn my back on the others? I know that Takeru and Iori are willing to accept me, but what about Daisuke, Ken, and Hikari? I said some terrible things to them and I really couldn't blame them if they never want to speak to me again. No. Takeru's right I have to be strong. Hawkmon and the whole Digital World are counting on me.'_

After what seemed like an eternity Miyako finally dropped her hands from her face to find Takeru and Iori looking at her expectantly with a measure of empathy in their expressions. "Ok. If you'll take me back I'd like to be a part of the team again. I've honestly missed you all so much these last five years. It's been almost suffocating to be without you guys these last five years. Like there's been a hole in my heart. But that's in the past I want to move on and take down whatever creep is threatening the Digital World!"

"Now that's the Miyako I remember, welcome back!" Takeru laughed.

"So where do we go now? Who's next?" Iori asked bring up the task at hand again.

"Wait, what do you mean 'who's next'? Do you mean that everyone isn't back together already?" Miyako asked with a surprised expression.

Takeru let out something between a cough and laugh at this question before catching his breath and responding, "Well no. So far it's only you two, but we really need to hurry to get the other back in the fold before things get even worse in the Digital World and we could use your help convincing some of them to come back."

"Wait wait wait. Why only me and Iori so far? Why haven't you gone to Yamato or Hikari? I mean he's your brother and she's your best friend. They would pretty much do anything for you, so why haven't you gone to them yet." Miayko asked with genuine curiosity.

"Actually I was wondering that too Takeru, logically it would make the most sense for you to go to the two of them, but you came to us. Have you even tried to talk to them?" Iori added while furrowing his brow in confusion.

Takeru closed his eyes and let out an agitated sigh. Shaking his head he said, "I'm not going to talk about this. Let's just get going. I think we should go to Daisuke next." His tone left no room for argument, as he seemed steadfast in his refusal to touch upon the topic.

Miyako and Iori shared a look that seemed to convey that they would bring this up again later, before signaling their consent with a nod.

The trio then set off for Daisuke's home to see if they could cajole their former leader into joining up with them once again. Miyako despite being happy that they would be reuniting the Chosen, couldn't help but feel suspicious over Takeru's obvious avoidance of Yamato and Hikari, but decided not to push Takeru on it at this moment and instead wait for the right time to bring it up again.

* * *

Once again I hope this was alright and any reviews will be very much appreciated.

Also, quick shoutout to the anonymous guest reviewer on the last chapter, I appreciate the advice.


	4. Loyalty of a Leader

A/N: So yeah this chapter took forever for multiple reasons mostly concerning laziness, but also I was fairly disgusted with the last chapter so that turned me off writing for a while. I tried to do some new things with this chapter, so hopefully they turned out alright. Please review/flame/comment because I really do appreciate that stuff.

* * *

_Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away_

_Now it looks as though they're here to stay_

_Oh, I believe in yesterday_

_Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be_

_There's a shadow hanging over me._

_Oh, yesterday came suddenly_

"_Yesteday" The Beatles_

Dusk began to overtake the Odaiba sky as Takeru, Miyako, and Iori walked along towards Daisuke's apartment building in contemplative silence. The three Chosen Children, while glad to be back together after their long term separation, couldn't help but feel anxious about their upcoming meeting with Daisuke.

Takeru felt especially anxious as he and Daisuke had never been on the best terms even before the group's dissolution. While he and Daisuke had gotten over their outright feuding fairly early on in their adventure together, things were still tense between the two of them. They just had clashing philosophies, much like Taichi and Yamato. However, unlike Yamato, Takeru had never managed to forge a strong bond with his goggle wearing leader before the group's break up.

A loud ring broke Takeru out of his musings and as he turned to find the source of the noise he saw a seemingly flustered Iori reaching in his shorts pocket for his cell phone. As he listened to Iori converse quietly with whoever happened to be on the other side of the line Takeru, notices Miyako's gazing intently in his direction as if trying to figure something out.

He figured that it probably had to with his evasiveness when it came to the topic of a certain pair of Chosen Children, but he chose to ignore Miyako's silent inquiries, instead hoping that she would just drop the subject.

Turning his attention back to Iori he noticed that the younger Chosen was seemingly just about finished with his phone call. As Iori hung up the phone Takeru fixed him with an inquisitive glance, hoping to find out what the call was about.

Iori seemed to pick up on this cue and said, "I'm sorry about that. My mother just called and reminded me that I'm supposed to have a kendo lesson with my grandfather in a half hour. So I have to go. I'm really sorry that I won't be able to help you with Daisuke and the others. Please keep me updated on what happens and if there's any way I can help."

Takeru's face fell a bit upon receiving the news, as he was disappointed that his time with Iori was coming to an end so soon. He had really missed his DNA-Digivolution partner these last five years. He had always felt an innate sense of calm when around him because he knew that Iori understood him as well as almost anyone else. Especially when it came to knowing there just certain things he didn't want to talk about.

Adding to his disappointment was the fact that he had no such rapport with Miyako. While she along with Iori had been the first of the second generation Chosen he had met, he had really never developed any sort of strong relationship with her. They had a mutual respect for each other, but there was just really no sort of relationship between the two of them, it was somewhat odd given all that they had been through together.

"Well I guess we'll see you later. I'll make sure to let you know how everything goes." Miyako said breaking Takeru's inner ramblings.

"Y-yeah we'll catch up with you later." Takeru spit out quickly hoping to cover for the fact that his mind had been in another place for an uncertain amount of time.

He noticed Miyako give him a curious look at him after his stumbled words, but she said nothing and merely started walking towards Daisuke's again. He was thankful that she hadn't called him out on his spaciness, as he was sure she had noticed. He guessed there might be some advantages in having very little semblance of a relationship with Miyako, as it meant that the outspoken girl was less likely to call him out when he was acting less than normal.

He knew that her concern about his situation with his brother and best friend, if he could truly call someone he had not had any sort of meaningful contact with his best friend, was coming from a good place, but this was his burden to bear and he did not want anyone to deal with it. In the meantime he at least had a task that he devote his attention to, thereby avoiding the despair that seemed to well up in his heart anytime Hikari and Yamato were brought up.

Deciding to truly make an earnest effort to put those negative thoughts out of his mind he turned to look at his current companion who similarly seemed to have a lot on her mind at the moment. He assumed that she was probably reflecting on how different things could have been had cooler heads prevailed on that fateful day 5 years ago. He could definitely empathize with that train of thought given that he had spent almost every waking moment of the past 5 years reliving that day and trying to find some key that would bring everything back together.

He let out a hollow laugh thinking back on how desperate he had been to get everyone back together for the last 5 years and how today of all days, seemingly out of the blue Gennai had handed him what ostensibly represented the key to bringing the Chosen back together. If he hadn't learned a long time ago to never doubt the mysterious ways of the Digital World he would've been skeptical and thought that this was all too good to be true.

"What's so funny? Do I have something on my face or something? Because if I do and you've just been staring that's really rude. I'd expect more from you Takeru, but I guess all you boys are the same. Incredibly dumb."

The sudden outburst from Miyako who had been quiet for most of their trip to this point startled Takeru to the extent that he actually stumbled due to the pure surprise of the awkward silence being broken.

"No! No no no. Really I wasn't laughing at you. I promise. I was just thinking about some stuff." Takeru rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he replied really hoping against hope that he could avoid his lavender haired friend's wrath. He had seen what happened when Daisuke managed to irritate her and did not want to repeat the gogglehead's mistakes.

Miayko's annoyed expression softened into one of curiosity upon hearing what Takeru had to say. "Yeah, I've been doing that a lot too lately." Miayko replied and let out what sounded like an exapserated sigh before continuing, "So what's on your mind? You know it's not good to keep things bottled up. You should know that as well as anybody being Hikari's best friend, the amount she kept bottled up was enough to drive anyone insane. So spill. What's on your mind?"

Takeru frowned at the mention of Hikari, but brushed it off trying to make sense of his thoughts so as to give Miyako some insight into what he was thinking. She was hardly his first choice for a soundingboard, but he didn't exactly have anyone else he could talk to. Plus, it couldn't hurt to make some actual inroads with her before they went back to the digital world again to confront whatever new evil was awaiting them, given that after all this time he still had a very .

Taking a deep breath and looking at Miyako, he summoned up his courage and began, "Well the reason I was laughing is that it's kind of ironic that it took some great evil threatening the digital world to bring us back together. I guess it's appropriate given that's what brought us together in the first place, but still you would've thought we were stronger than that. That we would've been able to forgive each other without needing the fate of two worlds hanging in the balance." Seeing Miyako's clouded over expression Takeru quickly finished, "Sorry I'm not making sense. Forget I said anything."

Shaking her head Miyako responded, "No everything you said is true. It's just...depressing. God I can't believe how out of hand we let this get. It's like at the end of the day despite all our issues with each other we still love each other and we have that connection as Chosen that no one else could really get, but somehow we forgot that or ignored it. And for what? So I could just stay angry at everyone for whatever stupid reason I had back then. Ugh these last 5 years were for NOTHING. Spending every frickin day desperately trying tos tay angry just so I wouldn't miss you guys so damn much."

Watching Miyako angrily rant, not caring if anyone was listening, was surprisingly comforting for Takeru. He fondly remembered all the times that she would dive into one of these rants back during their adventures, usually complaining about the latest way Daisuke had managed to annoy her. He took this a sure sign that things were returning to normal and couldn't help, but beam at that hopeful thought as they approached Daisuke's building to bring their leader back into the fold.

* * *

Daisuke Motomiya dribbled a soccer ball aimlessly under the lights of an empty soccer field next to Odaiba High School. This had become somewhat of a nightly ritual, weather permitting of course, over the last 5 years. He had always found solace in soccer when the world got too real for him and he needed to escape. The last 5 years since the split of the Chosen had been entirely too real for him and he focused all his energy and thoughts on tiring himself out on the field so he wouldn't have to think back to those fond memories that now hurt so much.

In his opinion his greatest strength, and according to others greatest fault, had always been his ability to not overthink things. It wasn't that he didn't think at all, despite being accused of that on many occasions, but rather he just simply decided to shrug off what he couldn't control and instead focus his efforts on what he could control. That's partially why he had been so devastated by the events of 5 years ago today.

When Taichi had passed his trademark goggles onto Daisuke, thus anointing him the new leader of the Chosen he knew from that moment on that he had a sacred duty to keep the Chosen together at all costs and to be a good leader for the team as they confronted the evils that threatened the Digital World and the Real World. While he admittedly had experienced some growing pains in his role early on, he had felt by the time they had defeated MaloMyotismon that he truly had come to fulfill the promise that Taichi had seen in him during his first trip to the digital world.

However, that had all changed for him 5 years ago on that fateful anniversary. He stood lamely as a mere bystander as he watched the Chosen break apart when he it was his duty as leader to step in and stop the arguments before they took everyone to the point of no return where things were said that could never be taken back. Still to this day he had never forgiven himself for that, and thus had stopped wearing the goggles that symbolized everything he aspired to be, yet had never truly fulfilled.

To escape these dark depressing thoughts Daisuke threw himself completely into soccer. It wasn't necessarily a huge change from before the Chosen had fallen apart, because he had been obsessed with soccer back then too, so no one had really noticed. However, for him the game took on a whole new meaning and purpose. Previously Daisuke had played soccer because it was truly his passion and he genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. Now, it was something he took part in not of out of enjoyment, but rather out of necessity to escape his own mind.

Strangely enough Daisuke had found success in his unorthodox, and what some might call unhealthy, approach to his problem. He lived his life in what could be called very mundane fashion going through the ups and downs of school and soccer, all the while pushing those feelings of despair and depression related to losing the 11 best friends he'd ever had into a deep dark hole in his mind, never to be thought about again.

The largest and most constant struggle for him was the fact that he would still se Takeru and Hikari every single day in the hallways of school or randomly run into one of the other Chosen in Odaiba. Somewhere deep inside him a part of him screamed out to reach out to his former friends whenever he saw them, but he would always suppress and ignore that voice for as far as he was concerned no one cared to associate with a failed leader. A leader who had watched as his team tore itself apart from the inside. He understood that he was alone now and he accepted the sad reality by ignoring it altogether.

Breathing heavily now after an intense hour of drills, Daisuke flopped on the ground and to catch his breath before going through his stretching routine and heading home. Looking up at the stars on the clear August night he couldn't help but think of his best friend and partner wondering if he still remembered him or if he was even alive. Daisuke knew that he could never forget Veemon, no matter how painful it might be to hold on to the memory of the little blue dragon now that they were seemingly permanently separated.

The abrupt separation from Veemon after the battle with MaloMyotismon had been such a shock to Daisuke's system that he wasn't sure how to cope with it. From what he recalled from seeing Hikari and Takeru's struggles was that this was much different than the first time they had been separated from their digimon. At least then they had gotten a chance to say goodbye, instead of being unceremoniously dumped back into the real world with no idea what had just happened or where their partner was.

Losing Veemon had been like losing a part of his soul, but he had known that he could soldier on and live his life without him as long as he had the rest of the Chosen to support him and for him to support. When he lost that support network he knew that he needed to urgently find something or someone to occupy his full attention and thus he turned to the game he had always loved that now had been corrupted by his desperation into a tool to prevent his mind from going to the places he did not want it to go.

Daisuke truly found it amazing how quickly, over the course of 8 months to be exact, that his charmed life that he had used as a springboard to hold off MaloMyotismon in the dream world could fall apart and devolve into this fake life that he lived now. Merely existing for the sake of existing, having no greater goal or purpose to work towards. He found one word perfectly encapsulated his state of being over the last 5 years, a word that he would never have associated with himself before, but now was to him synonymous with the name Daisuke Motomiya: hopeless.

Just as that thought passed through his mind he became acutely aware of approaching footsteps and a seemingly friendly conversation occurring between the new arrivals to the field. Assuming it was someone coming to use the field he shouted out with his eyes still closed, "Hey I just gotta stretch and then I'll split. You can use the other end of the field for now and I promise I won't be long. Just don't wanna get tight you know how it is."

As he finished shouting out to the new arrivals he noticed that their conversation had stopped abruptly and the footsteps had stopped too. A tense silence hung in the air prompting Daisuke to sit up and look at what caused the new arrivals to lapse into silence so suddenly. What he saw shocked him so thoroughly that for one of the rare times in his life he was rendered speechless.

"Hey Daisuke, it's been a while huh?" Miyako started in carefully seemingly trying to get a feel for Daisuke's state of mind and how he would react to her, given that they hadn't exactly parted on the best terms.

After a moment he found his voice again and replied, "Uh yeah it has been." Knowing that this surely wasn't just a social visit given that they hadn't spoken for the last 5 years he asked, "But what are you guys doing here? I'm not really sure I get why you're here at all."

Taking this as his cue, Takeru took a seat next to Daisuke flashing him a big grin asked him, "So do you miss Veemon?"

Daisuke found himself quickly getting annoyed with the blonde sitting next to him who was seemingly being coy for reasons that escaped him. Furthermore, Takeru knew that Veemon as an extremely sensitive topic for Daisuke and knew full well that he missed him, which made his line of questioning insulting to Daisuke.

As Daisuke opened his mouth to tell Takeru off for asking that obnoxious and insensitive question the blonde raised a finger to stop Daisuke from talking and said, "What if I told you that you could- no have to see him again? That the fate of two worlds requires you to see Veemon again. What would you say?"

At this latest line of questioning Daisuke became even more confused and angry with Takeru, whose grin was growing wider by the minute, while Miyako stood off to the side rolling her eyes muttering something about "stupid boys."

"Of course I miss Veemon! You know damn well I do! Where do you get off asking questions like that? What the hell do you mean 'I have to see him again'? You don't tell me what to do blondie!" The words came out so quickly and hotly Daisuke wasn't even sure of what he had said or if it made any sense, but he was determined to let Takeru know he wasn't going to let him stay up on his high horse.

Suddenly Takeru's expression morphed from the joyful teasing grin, that had been seemingly plastered to his face, to a very solemn and serious one and as he spoke up his tone indicated that he was now saying was truly important, "Gennai, or a projection of him- I'm not really sure how it works, came to me a few hours ago. The Digital World is in danger again from some sort of dark force, I don't know exactly what because he didn't have the time to explain, but he stressed that if we didn't get back there soon to fight whatever the new threat is both worlds could be in danger."

Daisuke sat there staring into Takeru's deep blue eyes trying to process the information and see if he was being serious. It was strange though, Daisuke felt like he really didn't need to look in Takeru's eyes for confirmation. He just believed him and the look in those blue eyes only confirmed it further that he was telling the truth. He saw a solemn determination in his eyes, similar to what he had seen when Angemon digivolved to MagnaAngemon to fight BlackWarGreymon, just pure desire to save two worlds at any cost. It really was admirable, though Daisuke would never admit it aloud.

Takeru seemed to pick up on the fact that Daisuke had accepted what he'd said without an argument, but he decided to continue anyway just to make sure he drove his point home and got Daisuke full up to speed. "Gennai also somehow knew about our situation...I don't know how but he said it was of the 'utmost importance' that we come together again to fight this new threat and that our partners would be waiting for us once we travelled to the digital world. So that's why we're here. We need you to be part of the team again. Are you in?"

Daisuke's immediate response was an indignant snort, to which Miyako, who up to this point had been content to be a bystander, replied, "How bout you answer us with some words doofus?"

"Who are you calling 'doofus' dork?!" Daisuke responded hotly, but with a grin on his face as he felt a sense of deja vu wash over him, fondly remembering all the times he bickered with Miyako during their time in the Digital World.

Shaking his head while smiling Takeru stepped between the two combatants before their mini-spat could escalate any further. Extending a hand to Daisuke and smiling he asked, "So Daisuke you ready to kick some evil digimon butt?"

Daisuke fiercely grabbed Takeru's hand squeezing it as hard as he could while beaming replied, "Whatever evil is plaguing the Digital World better start running because Daisuke Motomiya is back in action and ready to kick some digi-butt!"

"I guess I'll take that as a 'yes.' It's good to have you back Daisuke, life has been a lot more quiet without you." Takeru said through a huge grin before. "And not in a good way." He finished with a laugh that both Miyako and Daisuke soon joined in with, all three of them feeling better than they had at any point in the last 5 years. Things finally seemed to be looking up now that the team was coming back together.

Daisuke's smile stayed firmly rooted on his face even as the trio's laughter died down. He felt a strange yet oddly familiar emotion filling him at this point and couldn't quite place a finger on it until he noticed the yellow glow coming from underneath Takeru's shirt and suddenly things clicked into place. He now knew that word that had come to define him in his mind over the last 5 years had suddenly been rendered completely obsolete.

He was no longer hopeless anymore because hope had reentered his life and he intended to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. He would not- no he could not fail again. Takeru, and by extension Gennai, had offered him a second chance. A chance to remedy the mistakes of his past when he given into weakness and stood by while the Chosen fell apart. He would not disappoint Takeru's faith in him the way he had Taichi's. That was not going to happen.

Daisuke was suddenly broken out of his thoughts when he noticed Takeru and Miyako staring at him expectantly. "What?" He blurted out defensively with confusion laced in his tone.

Miyako let out an aggravated sigh before answering, "We were just asking if you knew what the fastest way to get to Tamachi was, since y'know you were always visiting Ken there."

Daisuke's mouth formed a perfect "O" shape and he flushed a bit embarrassed at being caught spacing out before regaining his composure and taking off in the direction of the train yelling back to his two compatriots, "Follow me!"

* * *

Deep in the darkest corner of the digital world a figure shrouded in shadows observed a monitor showing the events occurring on Earth with mild interest all the while tapping their fingers on their throne absentmindedly.

Speaking softly to themselves they said, "Please do hurry up and get here soon Chosen. I really am quite proud of what I have prepared for you. It would be quite rude to keep your new ruler waiting for too long. Gennai and the Sovereign really are fools to think that this dysfunctional group of children can stop my plans."

Laughing the figure shut off the screen and walked out of the room to continue their preparations for the return of the Chosen.

* * *

A/N: If you read this I hope you liked it and will leave a review or even a flame, those can be fun too. Hopefully I can spend less than 2 months getting the next chapter out, that is if anyone is still interested.


	5. An Opportunity for Kindness

A/N: First I'd like to thank all of the reviewers on this story I'm glad that this story has gotten as as many reviews as it has, even with my long breaks between updates. In this chapter I tried to improve some things that I felt were lacking so far in the story, so hopefully it came out well. Also, this chapter, apart from the first act, is very angsty, but that's mostly because it's Ken and well he's an an angsty character. Lastly, I'm interested to see if anyone can guess the identity of the mysterious speaker from the end of last chapter. There's one word in particular that is a dead giveaway for his identity. Anyways enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think in the reviews.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, otherwise the show would probably be pretty bad.

* * *

_Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend_

_Somewhere along in the bitterness_

_And I would have stayed up with you all night_

_Had I known how to save a life_

_The Fray- "How to Save a Life" _

The train to Tamachi that night was fairly sparsely populated for a Friday night. Takeru assumed that many of the people who would regularly ride this train were probably on vacation with their families given that schools were still out for a couple of weeks more.

He was actually fairly grateful that the crowd on the train was below the norm because it had allowed Daisuke, Miyako, and himself to get seats together rather than being forced to scatter throughout the train to find any tiny pockets of space that might be available. There was also the added bonus that the lack of passengers made the train a lot quieter than usual, thus allowing them to converse or, in Takeru's case, think.

As the train rattled on Takeru stared absentmindedly out the window as the city now bathed in moonlight passed him by. He had chosen not to take part in the animated conversation that Daisuke and Miyako were having at the moment, though occasionally he couldn't help but crack a smile when they seemed ready to be at each other's throats over some minor disagreement.

Strange as it may have seemed to outsiders, he was inwardly thrilled that Daisuke and Miyako were having one of their usual spats again. He knew that they were nothing serious, rather just a product of the duo's stubbornness and fiery personalities. More than anything Daisuke and Miyako fighting represented a return to normalcy for Takeru.

He couldn't believe that he used to find these fights exasperating and often agitating, especially when they could be so unintentionally funny. Takeru knew that back in the day he had taken normal everyday things such as this for granted because he had possessed complete faith that their group would never fall apart like they eventually did.

Now he knew that after the painful nature of the last 5 years he would never again take anything with any of his friends or family for granted ever again. Somehow some entity, divine or otherwise, had seen fit to show him, in a fairly sadistic way, how much everything he had accepted as a given in the past really meant to him. He truly treasured every moment he had with his friends now and would continue to do so until the day he died. This was his silent vow to himself.

Though if he was being honest with himself Takeru knew there were two people in particular whom he was guilty of having taken for granted. They had always been pillars of strength in his life. They were the ones he could turn to when the world felt like it was crumbling beneath his feet. They had been everything for him, yet he had still managed to take even them for granted.

That fact was what had made the last 5 years such a shock to his system. It was a deeply shameful reality to confront that without those two in his life he felt like only a third of a person. When the two of them left his life 5 years ago he had to learn an entirely new way of living, if one could call going through life feeling like a third of a whole person "living", that was completely alien to him and against his nature all the while maintaining the hope that one day he could reconcile with them and they could all put the hurt they caused each other in the past.

Truthfully he knew what his reasons were for avoiding his best friend and older brother, but he didn't dare tell the others when asked. More than anything that had happened 5 years ago, he was scared of what might still happen. He was afraid to reopen old wounds between them that had scarred over during their separation over the last half-decade. He knew in his heart of hearts that he was still not strong enough to face Hikari and Yamato, the two people that had always been there for him through all of life's struggles big and small, yet still managed cause him so much pain that fateful day.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"For being a goggle brained idiot!"

Daisuke and Miyako's yelling broke Takeru out of his thoughts and he turned to look at them, trying desperately to suppress a laugh at the sheer hilarity of the situation lest they turn their collective wrath on him. That truly would be a frightening experience unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life, including being chased by a psychotic clown at the tender age of 8.

From what he could gather in the ensuing exchange between the two second generation Chosen, Daisuke had a made a careless crack about Miyako being boy crazy given her separate crushes on Ken, Michael, and Yuri, which inevitably led to him getting a smack upside the head. It truly was just like old times, with maybe just an extra touch of violence added in to adjust for maturity.

As Takeru continued to watch bemusedly them a sudden realization came to him and this time he couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud, which incidentally ceased Daisuke and Miyako's bickering and caused them to look at him with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.

"What's so funny blondie?" Daisuke started, his voice laced with annoyance.

"Seriously Takeru, what's with these random fits of laughter? First on the way to Daisuke's and now this. I better not have something weird on my face that you haven't been telling me about! Oh god is that why people have been staring at me?! Takeru, you jerk! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Miyako's rant was delivered at such a fast shrill pace complete with a wide change in emotions throughout, that Takeru was only able to catch a little of it. However, the little bit that he did manage to catch caused him to laugh even harder so much so that he had to spend a few seconds catching his breath before he could explain himself.

"Well you see I was watching you guys argue and…" Takeru started with some trepidation, debating whether or not he should point this out to his companions, as it would likely make them very self conscious. Ultimately it was too hilarious not to share. That and he feared he might burst if he couldn't share this with them.

Daisuke, never one to be overly patient, interjected, "Well spit it out blondie! I'm dying to know what you found sooo funny, that you had to just burst out laughing in our faces."

Takeru grinned and shook his head at this before continuing as if Daisuke hadn't spoken, "I just realized how ridiculous the two of you look. I mean look at yourselves. Daisuke your shirt may as well be see through you're so sweaty. And Miyako you're still wearing your overly wrinkled Ai-Mart uniform and your hair is all messed up, you kinda look a little homeless…"

Seeing a vein popping in Miyako's forehead Takeru decided to have a little fun with his two friends. Pointing a finger skyward, as if he had just reached a brilliant conclusion, he spoke in an airy and self important manner that channeled his favorite anime character saying, "I on the other hand look like a picture of elegance with my perfect golden blonde locks and a casual, but trendy t-shirt. If you two are interested I'd be willing to give you some tips, but I can't make any guarantees that you'll ever reach _this _level of elegance." He finished by giving an exhausted sigh and dramatically flipping his blonde hair before his two companions a smile full of smug satisfaction.

Upon recognizing what he was doing both Daisuke and Miyako burst into laughter at the absurdity of Takeru's actions. They were soon joined in their laughter by Takeru and the trio went on talking and joking with each other as the train continued its journey towards their final destination.

* * *

Sitting at his desk in his darkened bedroom, illuminated only by his desk lamp, Ken Ichijouji pored over his practice test for the college entrance exam looking for mistakes that he was sure he had made, due to his being distracted while taking it.

If he was being perfectly honest with himself he had barely been focusing on the practice test while taking it, barely perceiving the questions as he read them. His mind had been consumed with thoughts of that fateful day, as he was keenly are that today marked 5 years since his life had been turned upside down. That day still haunted him constantly, but never more than on the anniversary of it, when everywhere he looked the date stuck out like a sore thumb, almost mocking him and holding his past indiscretions over his head.

Thinking back he had truly felt like his life had finally taken a permanent turn for the better prior to the events of that sunny August afternoon. After the defeat of MaloMyotismon, he honestly felt as if he had conquered his demons that had dogged him even after joining the Chosen. It was amazing how wrong he had turned out to be, just like he always seemed to be about most things in his life.

Everything fell apart so quickly that day, that Ken still had trouble sorting through how exactly things had turned so bad so fast. That day was supposed to have been a day of celebration for the Chosen, as it represented the anniversary of the day that the original seven Chosen had entered the digital world, but it had turned out to be a rather tragic day. His life changed that day in an irrevocable manner. It had now joined with two other dates to form a sort of sadistic trinity of dates that constantly haunted him.

In the months leading up to that fateful day despite being cut off from his best friend and partner, Wormmon, he had never been happier. Following the end of his time as the Digimon Kaiser he had gained a group of eleven new friends that seemingly would be with him for life given all they had been through. They represented a sort of salvation from the dark thoughts and feelings that taken him down the dark path that had lead to his becoming the Kaiser. He knew, or at least at the time he thought he did, that now that he had them he would finally be able to live a normal happy life. Once again he was sorely mistaken.

If anything it would have been easier to have never made friends with them rather than experiencing the profound sense of loss that he had for the last 5 years. The Chosen had affected him so greatly that, despite having only been friends with them for a few months, he now felt as if he had a part of his soul missing. He desperately longed to once again feel that sense of camaraderie and inclusiveness that came with the territory of being a Chosen, but had long since accepted the fact that he never would be able to experience that again.

Despite his acceptance that he would never be a part of something quite so special again, he still struggled to move on from the memories of that day. Whenever they came to the fore of his mind they would be accompanied by an overwhelmingly familiar emotion. This emotion was the same one he always associated with the two other great tragedies in his life, the death of Osamu and the murder of Wormmon by his own vile creation Kimeramon.

Most people would label it as guilt, but for Ken it seemed to somehow be deeper and darker than merely guilt. Guilt implied that he merely had remorse and regret for the actions, which he had in spades, but it did not adequately cover the depth that he felt it. Guilt did not encompass the extreme self-loathing and feelings of inadequacy that ran rampant through his psyche.

Every single day he hated himself a little bit more for the actions he took and the actions he failed to take that had ultimately lead to his dissolution of his relationship with the rest of the Chosen. When he started to feel this way the world around him would always start to gray a bit from his perspective, becoming more and more like the world he had ventured to after Osamu's death and transformed his digivice into a tool for destruction.

The Chosen by and large had made great efforts to try to help him bear the crushing weight of his past mistakes, but Ken had continually pushed them away when they started to truly make breakthroughs. Some small petty part of him felt that he did not deserve to be allowed to move on from the past, to forgive himself, or to be forgiven by others. He supposed that it was this self destructive streak that had caused him to act the way he did 5 years ago.

With every fiber of his being he regretted how he had acted towards Miyako that day. She had always been his biggest advocate amongst the Chosen. She was advocated him when the others were reticent to accept him into the group. It was Miyako who was his most staunch defender in the face of attacks from Iori. She seemed to always genuinely have his best interest at heart.

On that damned day Miyako had been merely trying to build him up and stop him from being self destructive, but instead of accepting the help that he so desperately wanted and needed he immaturely lashed out at her. He had chosen to take the cowards way out of withdrawing and hiding his true emotions and feelings rather than accept the help that was being compassionately offered to him. Whenever the memory came to mind he felt sick to his stomach.

He knew that he had the capacity to be so much better than that cruel cold persona he infrequently adopted as a defense mechanism, but for whatever reason stopped himself from achieving it. Some days he truly thought it was a sick joke that he had been given the Crest of Kindness. Why give a crest that embodied so many positive attributes and feelings to someone who was so incapable of channeling them?

With a heavy sigh he shook his head and decided to return his focus to the task at hand hoping that by returning his attention to his work he could banish these agonizing thoughts from his mind for the rest of the night at least. He also knew that dwelling on his past failures would not help him prepare for the college entrance exam.

Just as soon as he had started to get his mind focused back on the exam, his train of thought was once again interrupted but this time it was an incessant knocking at the door to his bedroom. As he reluctantly rose from his chair to answer the door he pondered who it could possibly be and why it was so urgent. He doubted that it was his parents given that they knew he was busy studying and they generally would call to him through the door rather than knock incessantly.

In fact, there were really only two people who came to mind were stubborn enough to incessantly knock on someone's bedroom door when the room's occupant was clearly busy and did not want to be bothered. Ken knew that it certainly couldn't be either of them given that they hadn't spoken in the last 5 years and he had given them no reason to seek him out.

With an aggravated sigh Ken went to open the door hoping that whatever the rude visitor wanted was not something that would take overly long as he really needed to finish going over his practice exam and wanted to get bed at a decent time because he knew he needed to be fresh for soccer practice early the next morning.

Opening the door Ken quickly found himself struck entirely speechless. Standing in front of him were three people he had never anticipated seeing again. Three of his closest friends from 5 years ago. Three people whom he had harmed irreparably were standing in the doorway of his bedroom looking not the least bit angry with him as they had every right to be.

He opened his mouth to try to speak. Try to ask them why they were here. Tell them that he was unbelievably overjoyed to see them again after all this time. However, each time he tried to speak he just couldn't form any words. He just stared wide eyed and open mouthed at them. He simply could not believe that Daisuke, Miyako, and Takeru were all here to see him.

Seemingly picking up on Ken's sudden inability to speak Daisuke took the initiative to break the silence saying, "Dude, why do you have only the one light on in there? It's kinda dark and depressing. Maybe a bit creepy too…"

"Daisuke you idiot! We just got here and you're already putting down Ken! What is wrong with you?!"

"Well excuse me for pointing out the obvious, Miyako! I thought you were the one who was supposed to be sincere and all since well you had the Digi-Egg of Sincerity. And it is not a put down of Ken! I'm just saying he could use a little more light that's all…"

Looking past the two bickering Chosen, Ken made eye contact with Takeru who gave him a bemused grin and rolled his eyes in a good natured manner, which in turn caused Ken to smile brightly at his two squabbling friends enjoying the good natured manner of the argument.

Seemingly having decided that their squabble had gone on long enough Takeru's face turned to a serious expression as he stepped between Daisuke and Miyako saying, "As much as I enjoy watching the two of you fight, and believe me I do. We kind of came here for a reason. We need to talk to Ken."

At Takeru's words Miyako's face suddenly flushed, turning to Ken with an extremely apologetic smile "Sorry about that...I guess we got a little carried away, but we really do need to talk to you."

"Yeah dude sorry...some people just have to be SO bossy that they can't let anything go." Daisuke started while rolling his eyes towards Miyako before continuing, "Anyways dude guess what?! You're going to get to see Wormmon again! How exciting is that?!"

Ken felt his heart skip a beat upon hearing that he was going to see his partner again. He had missed Wormmon so much ever since the battle with MaloMyotismon. When Wormmon was around he actually felt as if he was worth something. Wormmon helped him not hate himself and actually strive to be the best that he could be.

Suddenly though he thought back over the last 5 years and how disappointed Wormmon would be in him and his actions. He had acted cowardly, selfishly, and worst of all he had been cruel. Wormmon had always thought so highly of him even when he was at his worst as the Digimon Kaiser, yet he shuddered to think how disappointed Wormmon would be at how much he had regressed over the last 5 years.

Being acutely aware that the trio of Chosen in front of him were eagerly anticipating his response to what was supposed to be joyous news Ken averted his eyes towards the floor and responded with the only thing that came to mind, "I can't."

Groaning loudly in frustration Daisuke stepped forward and clapped Ken on the shoulder while putting his forehead right up against Ken's causing Ken to look up directly into Daisuke's eyes as he spoke.

"Ken, dude, c'mon you're not doing this again. This 'I can't' crap is not going to fly anymore. I get that you still have your hang ups because of everything that happened with you being the Kaiser and all, but that's ancient history. This new threat, whatever the hell it is, is bigger than you. It's bigger than me. It's bigger than any of us alone."

Ken felt his eyes start to sting with tears as the realization of how selfish he was being took hold. If there was a threat serious enough to call the Chosen back to the Digital World 5 ½ years after the gates had been sealed in the wake of MaloMyotismon's defeat then logic would dictate that it would require all 12 of them to defeat it. Yet here he was allowing fear to dictate his actions. He was so low and pathetic, he didn't deserve to be called a Chosen.

"How can I still deserve to be a Chosen after everything I've done? Both back then and throughout the last 5 years. I made no effort to reunite the group. I did nothing." Ken paused and swallowed back the tears that were starting to fall before shrugging off Daisuke and walking over to Miyako and taking her hands in his own.

Miyako's face flushed again at the sudden attention from Ken and she managed to stammer his name and nothing else before he began to speak again, "Miyako, you of all people have no reason to want me to be a Chosen again. The way I acted towards you 5 years ago when you were just trying to help me. What I said...it truly was unforgivable. I am so sorry for driving you away. If you said you hated me and never wanted to see me again I honestly could not blame you for it. I truly am a detestable person for what I've d-"

Ken's rant was cut off as he felt a sudden sharp sting against his cheek. Miyako had slapped him. Ken was hit by a sudden sense of deja vu as the events of five years ago suddenly came flooding back to him as if he were reliving them right in the moment. However, when he looked up to meet her gaze again he saw something unexpected: compassion.

"I'm sorry for doing that Ken, but you really needed to shut up. Listen to me now. And don't interrupt, ok?" Upon receiving a nod for confirmation Miyako continued, "Nobody hates you Ken. Not one of us. We all did things we regret 5 years ago, but now we have a second chance to get things right. We have to move forward and not live in the past otherwise the Digital World and our world are both screwed. Do you understand now?"

Ken stared at Miyako for several seconds processing what she had just said. He turned to look at both Takeru and Daisuke and the looks in their eyes both showed that they agreed with Miyako. He was getting a clean slate. A chance to start over again. Leave his baggage back 5 years in the past. He could be a new Ken Ichijouji. A Ken Ichijouji no longer defined by the sins of his past. He desperately needed this. He desperately wanted this.

Turning back to Miyako he gave her the biggest smile he could muster and replied, "Yes I understand now. Thank you. I promise I won't make you or whoever decided to give me a second a chance regret it. Whatever this darkness is that's threatening the Digital World it needs to be destroyed and I promise that I will do whatever it takes to bring it to justice."

Daisuke let out a loud whoop as Ken finished and smacked him on the back exclaiming, "Yes! That's the Ken I know! Our team's finally back together! This is so great! Now we just gotta get Taichi's group on board and then whatever is threatening the Digital World will be sorry it climbed out of it's hole!"

Daisuke's outburst caused Ken to break out into a fit of laughter and Miyako to roll her eyes with an amused grin on her face. However, when Ken looked at Takeru he noticed something was off. The blonde haired Chosen was looking unusually sheepish and uncomfortable in stark contrast to his usual calm contented nature.

Daisuke also seemed to pick up on Takeru's odd demeanor as well and fixed the blonde with a curious look and opened his mouth to comment on it before being silenced with a glare from Miyako that seemed to convey something along the lines of _We'll talk about this later_. Ken found this to further the strangeness of the situation, but shrugged it off as just another of Takeru's quirks that he didn't know much about.

Clearing his throat to break the awkward silence that had fallen over the room following Daisuke's silenced question Takeru suddenly announced, "Hey guys so I'm going to let you catch up, but I've gotta go. I think there's a train back to Odaiba soon and I want to get started on tracking down the original group. So I'll see you around." As he finished Takeru gave an awkward wave, turned, and walked out the front door of the Ichijouji residence without so much as waiting for any reply from the other the three Chosen present.

This awkward behavior only deepened Ken's curiosity as to what exactly what was going on with Takeru. He decided that now that the blonde had departed it was probably the best time to get information out of Miyako. She surely seemed to have some sort of idea as to what was going on given her earlier actions towards Daisuke.

Ken decided that a direct approach would be best so he turned to Miyako and asked, "So Miyako what exactly is going on with Takeru?"

"Yeah what's bugging blondie? I haven't seen him act that weird since…" Daisuke trailed off mid-sentence as he seemed to make a sudden realization in his mind, with his mouth forming a perfect O shape.

"Well? What is it?" The curiosity was truly starting to become overwhelming for Ken, now that Daisuke was clued in somehow. He was racking his mind for what could possibly have Takeru acting so awkward and sheepish at the mention of their team being completely back together again.

Miyako and Daisuke shared a look as if to check if they were on the same page before answering Ken's question simultaneously. They only said one word. One very simple word, but that was all that was needed. Everything made sense now. That one word conveyed so much meaning and clearly was at the center of whatever happened to be bothering Takeru.

Ken's mind was reeling from the sudden shock of how everything had seemingly clicked into place through one simple word. He was so stunned that his only reply to the new information that he had just been given was just to echo exactly what Daisuke and Miyako had just said.

"Hikari."

* * *

A/N: Hooray for semi-cliffhangers! Please review, or flame, or threaten, or whatever you want to do. I'm excited to finally get into writing for the original group of Chosen. I feel like they're much deeper characters than the 02 Chosen, so it should be fun stuff. Lastly, I apologize for the lack of Yamato and Hikari thus far, but I promise when they do finally show up it will be well worth the wait.


	6. Courage's Second Chance

A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, it really is very appreciated. So this chapter was super easy to write like I was surprised at how much I was writing. It's easily the longest chapter of the story so far, but I think it's also the best. I'm so happy to be able to focus on the original Chosen again. Without further ado enjoy the chapter and please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon and I don't know why I bother to include this.

* * *

_The reason I want to wipe away this distorted afterimage_

_is because I see my own limitations within it._

_In the window of my overly self-conscious self_

_is last years calendar, without any dates written in._

_"Rewrite" -__Asian Kung-Fu Generation _

The quiet serenity of the empty streets of Tamachi bathed in the beautiful moonlight that night was something that Takeru would usually have reveled in. He was generally a person who saw fit to stop and smell the roses when the situation presented itself. He had always had a great love for life and all its little idiosyncrasies that he could never hope to understand.

If he had to guess this was why he generally found himself not to be a nervous person. To him getting nervous or stressed about the little things was just not worth it, especially since he had copious firsthand experience dealing with things that had far more of a global impact than performance on a test or how he looked in front of girls. It wasn't that he didn't care about these types of things, he took them very seriously, he just didn't let them consume him, rather when push came to shove who let the chips fall where they may and go from there.

This was why his current state of mind felt so foreign to him. After Daisuke's exuberant declaration that their team was finally all back together, which was based on the incorrect assumption that Takeru had already reconnected with the two members who were absent at the moment, his mind had been consumed with thoughts about the one absent member of the team. He knew he had twice now spurned the chance to discuss and seek his friends help with how to deal with this problem, but he had decided a long time ago that if he was going to deal with this problem it would have to be on his own. In his mind this was the only way.

The only issue with his stipulation that it had to be him to deal with his personal demons regarding his best friend was that he was deathly afraid of facing her. He couldn't remember a time prior to 5 years ago that had ever felt anything close to apprehension when it came to seeing Hikari. If anything seeing her had always been something he had actively looked forward to, as he always felt as though he was just a little happier when she was around.

Now, however, the mere thought of having to see her again made him feel like he was a scared 8 year old crying out for his mother all over again. The oddest part of the whole situation was that, technically, the reason he was so afraid to see Hikari did not have all that much to do with her as much as it did with him. He had started to think and feel certain about her in a way that he had never done before and that scared him.

Then the events of 5 years ago happened that had lead to them essentially dissolving their friendship. The things that had been said between the two of them that could never be taken back, had left such an indelible mark on their relationship that he wasn't sure that even if he did manage to convince her to rejoin the team he wasn't certain that they could ever get back to where they were. Despite all this he still missed her. He missed his best friend.

The rattling sound of trains passing by broke Takeru from his depressing thoughts as he suddenly realized to his astonishment that he made it to the Tamachi train station. He had remembered the walk from the train to Ken's having taken much longer, but he guessed he had been so wrapped up in his thoughts about Hikari that he hadn't noticed his surroundings.

Taking a look around the station he observed that it was fairly empty, which was kind of to be expected as it was getting late in the evening and most people had already reached their final destination for the night. He noted that he himself would not be doing so for a while as he still had work to do once he got back to Odaiba.

As he walked to find the train schedule so that he could find out when exactly he could catch a train back to Odaiba, he had been lying when he had told the others that he thought there was a train soon he just needed a plausible excuse to leave, he took note of the station itself. It was pretty much a typical Tokyo train station with dull fluorescent lighting, dingy tiled floors, and advertisements everywhere. The only thing missing was crushing amounts of people.

Upon confirming his train time and track number Takeru began to head for his designated track to await his ride back to Odaiba. He knew that he needed to have a clear plan in mind when approaching the older generation of Chosen about reuniting, seeing as there was a lot more history between them, thus making the grudges and hurt run all the deeper.

It also didn't help that he was never one who could pull any sort of rank amongst them given that he had been the runt of the group during their first adventure and as such they all had a natural inclination to protect him, even when he didn't need protecting. His brother and Taichi had always been the lynchpins of the group. The two of them generally determined the course of the group, with occasional input from Sora or Koushiro.

Jyou, Mimi, and himself had all generally taken a backseat when it came to decision making amongst the group. It was an interesting dynamic that had proved to be extremely successful in the end, as it generally lead to minimal infighting amongst them and allowed everyone to take on a role they were comfortable in.

On the other hand the roles with the younger group were slightly more loosely defined given that it was a smaller amount of people and they weren't stuck in the digital world trying to fend for themselves. He had always seen himself as somewhat of the tactical leader to Daisuke's spiritual leader.

During their adventures 6 years ago he often found that his opinions on what to do in certain situations often were chosen as the route to go for the group, while Daisuke's infectious energy and steadfast refusal to lose helped make them successful. His position within the group dynamic was the major reason why he was certain he would not have much difficulty persuading the members of the younger that they needed to put the past away to move forward.

With the older group he would forever be the baby. The last one to have their partner digivolve. The last one to have any input when a decision needed to made. He was always last when it came to that group. He never really minded it or even thought about it until now. The task that lay ahead of him was truly unenviable given his standing in their eyes.

As the train to Odaiba pulled in to the station, Takeru carefully weighed his options for who he would approach first. Normally this would have been a no brainer and he would have gone straight to Yamato without a second thought, but he knew that he couldn't approach his brother yet. He just didn't have the strength or fortitude to even begin to deal with or think about that problem yet.

Boarding the train and finding a seat he continued to go through the first generation Chosen trying to figure out who would be best to approach when suddenly he remembered a situation vaguely similar to this that had occurred during their first adventure 9 years ago. That was the last time the Chosen had truly split and gone off on their own, although it had been on much more amicable terms back then.

9 years ago the group had split apart because of the loss of their leader, even if it was unofficial at the time Taichi was the unifying force for the group. He managed to give them a singular direction and purpose that no one else was able to replace once he had vanished to the real world in the aftermath of Etemon's defeat.

Upon his return Taichi slowly brought the group back together again just in time for them to face off against Myotismon. He truly represented the glue that held the group together back then and Takeru had little reason to doubt that wasn't still the case. With this in mind he decided that upon returning to Odaiba he would seek out the former leader and start the process of bringing the older group back together.

He could only hope that he didn't run into Hikari when venturing to the Yagami residence, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Instead he chose to focus on how to approach things with Taichi, who he had always looked up to as a second big brother and had been the only person in the world who had come close to measuring up to Yamato in his eyes back in the day. Takeru knew one thing for sure though: this wouldn't take long either way.

* * *

"Ugh it's always has to be something with those two!" Daisuke complained as he walked past a pensive Ken and flopped on his friend's bed immediately spreading himself out and making himself comfortable. "Takeru and Hikari this. Hikari and Takeru that. Makes me sick. Why can't it ever be Daisuke and Hikari? Or Takeru and I don't know anybody but Hikari!"

"It does seem like those two are usually pretty involved with one another. Even back when I was the Kaiser I couldn't help but notice they seemed unusually close. But Takeru freaking out at even the mere suggestion of her seems odd to me, no?" Ken answered thoughtfully.

"Maybe blondie finally realized that she's destined to be with me for ever and ever so he's decided to back off like the good guy he is?" Daisuke offered hopefully.

"Ok Daisuke please join us back on planet Earth." Miyako replied giving him a dramatic roll of the eyes before continuing, "Ken, you're definitely right about it being really weird that Takeru is being so skittish when it comes to Hikari, or pretty much anything for that matter. He always seemed so quietly confident ever since I met him. Plus he and Hikari were like a package deal back then, I can't imagine them getting this way over something small…" Miyako trailed off uncertainly.

"Well what should we do about it? You guys know them much better than I do, but I think we should try to do something at least. Neither of them would let any of us be this I don't know weird about one another. This can't be good for the group as a whole either given that they're such a big part of both our team and the older generation. There has to be something we can do, right?"

As Daisuke lay on Ken's bed he mulled over the comments from his two friends he was racking his brain to try to find any hint of discord between Takeru and Hikari 5 years ago that might be a hint as to why Takeru was acting so strange at the mere thought of the girl who had been his best friend since they were 8. He noted that there was some irony in this situation, him trying to find a way to help patch his relationship with Hikari, given that 6 years ago he would've been thrilled at any implication that there was trouble brewing between two friends.

Now, however, Daisuke wanted nothing more than for Takeru and Hikari to fix whatever was wrong between the two of them. He found it painful to see Takeru act so awkward at the mere mention of Hikari. The two of them used to be inseparable, but now something was broken. The worst part of it in his opinion was that he had no idea how to fix it. He felt useless.

The most worrying thing for him though was how Hikari was dealing with this whole mess. Even though they were in the same year at school, he had barely seen her over the last 5 years due to the fact that she was in much more advanced classes than him. Hikari, despite being strong in her own right, had never possessed the natural self confidence that Takeru had. In fact, she was quick to blame herself when things went wrong, which was truly the only thing Daisuke didn't like about her. If whatever happened was affecting Takeru this badly, he couldn't imagine how bad it was for Hikari.

"I wonder how Hikari's doing with all of this…" Daisuke pondered aloud.

"Oh come on Daisuke stop being so obsessed with her! I guess even 5 years apart can't stop your Hikari-mania." Miyako admonished condescendingly.

Daisuke quickly sat up on Ken's bed upon hearing this, "Hey! This is NOT about my 'Hikari-mania' whatever that means! I'm legitimately concerned!" Daisuke replied defensively, "Like none of us have talked to her in the last 5 years! I mean if whatever happened with Hikari is affecting blondie this much did you ever stop to think about how Hikari's doing? Didn't think so. Some friend you are." Daisuke finished with a triumphant smirk.

"Ugh I hate it when you're right. She's probably beating herself up over this, thinks it's her fault. And of course her frickin human security blanket Takeru is the problem. This sucks. The worst part is I don't think there's anything any of us can do. Those two idiots are so stubborn and set in their ways that I don't think even their brothers could get through to them." Miyako groaned rubbing her face out of frustration.

"So what you're saying is they're the only two who can fix this? That's...not ideal. We really need some less complicated friends, you guys." Ken responded while smiling mirthlessly.

"Tell me about it dude. Preaching to the damn choir. I guess if we're stuck being able to do nothing on that front, maybe we can at least try to strategize for whatever is going on the digital world. That is kind of the ultimate point of all of this right?" Daisuke proposed trying to find a way to lighten the mood.

"Hmm yeah that's a good idea. I'll get in touch with Iori too, so he can get caught up on everything that's happened so far and also help plan for whatever. I just wish we had more info about what was happening in the Digital World." Miyako agreed pulling out her D-Terminal to e-mail Iori and invite him over.

Even though he had changed the subject Daisuke still couldn't shake his feelings of frustration regarding Takeru and Hikari. He truly loved and admired both of them, though Daisuke would go to his grave before letting Takeru know he felt that way about him, and wanted nothing more than to see them back to their normal cheerful selves. He was starting to wonder if that was even possible anymore. He guessed they would find out soon enough.

* * *

Turning his key in the door Taichi Yagami walked into his family's apartment and headed straight for the couch throwing his keys down on the counter along the way. As he flopped down on the couch he stretched and let out a big yawn before kicking off his dress shoes and sprawling across the length of the couch to get comfortable.

Today had been a long day for Taichi, starting very early in the morning with 7 A.M. soccer practice with his University squad, before moving on to his internship at Sumitomo Bank, and finally just making it home now at 10 P.M. Now, he wanted nothing more than to lay on the couch watching whatever happened to be on television that night until he fell asleep.

Unfortunately, life and his mind had other ideas. Today was his most hated day, August 1st. He had hoped that his busy day would've taken his mind off it and helped him forget it about all the baggage that came with this date, but unfortunately he had struggled to focus on any of his tasks throughout the day. This in turn had contributed to his making it home so late as his work had piled up while he was constantly being distracted by his past.

It was funny in a way how one date could hold so many different meanings for him. August 1st had changed his life in so many ways that he could have never imagined before, all starting 9 years ago on their first day at camp when a freak snowstorm preceded the greatest thing that had ever happened to him: getting his digivice and being transported to the digital world with the other 6 Chosen Children.

However, little did he know at the time that just 4 years later on that same exact date his world would crumble apart. That day was his official wake up call from the dream-like bliss that he had been living in with 11 of the closest friends a person could ever have. It was also the day that he learned that he could no longer call himself a true friend or leader ever again. What he had done that day was unforgivable in his eyes.

Looking back on it the day had started off so well with the weather being as beautiful as can be and everyone seemed to be in a jovial mood. That day should have just been a day of celebration and remembrance for the Chosen. They had finally expelled the evil that had been plaguing the Digital World and although they were cut off from their partners, they still all had each other. However, he had let his selfish desires be the spark for the powder keg that ended up blowing apart their group…

* * *

_Taichi was beaming as he arrived at the park he was incredibly excited to have the second generation Chosen join in their yearly celebration, this time without the looming specter of the Digimon Kaiser or any threat to the Digital World for that matter. He just knew it was going to be a really great day._

_Adding to his excitement was the fact that he knew that he wasn't the only getting extremely geeked up for the big day. He know this because his dear sweet lovable younger sister Hikari just would not shut up about it. As much as he loved her, and was excited for this day as well, he wasn't sure that anyone could match her level of enthusiasm and thus found it to be a bit grating when she went on about making sure they had everything prepped just so._

_Upon arriving at Shiokaze Park for the big celebration Taichi immediately took to flitting around the group talking and catching up with everyone about this and that. Daisuke was still crushing on Hikari and wanted Taichi to set them up, which he plainly refused. Mimi had just moved back to Japan a couple months prior and was still readjusting after spending the last few years in New York. Jyou was already stressing about the workload of High School. Everyone generally seemed to be doing well and were in high spirits._

_As he finished making the rounds Taichi noticed that there were two people notably absent; namely his two best friends and resident Chosen lovebirds Yamato and Sora. Ever since their first adventure 4 years prior the three of them had been virtually inseparable, with the notable exception of the hairclip incident. They made up quite a great trio that helped to balance each other's personalities out._

_However, as they started to grow older and more mature feelings started to enter the mix the dynamic started to shift a bit from what it had been. Though the biggest change had occurred at Christmas just this past year when Sora and Yamato had officially gotten together as a couple. _

_This just so happened to be the same time Taichi was finally going to confess his feelings for Sora prior to Yamato's concert that Christmas. Despite his personal feelings Taichi decided to swallow his pride and encourage Sora to pursue Yamato. Because after all what kind of friend wouldn't be thrilled with their two best friends getting together and making each other happy?_

_That question was something Taichi had been struggling mightily with over the last several months as his feelings for Sora still existed, yet she was dating his best friend who truly was an all around great guy and made her happier than Taichi had ever seen her in all his years of knowing her. He really should've been happy too. He sure as hell pretended to be, but whenever he saw the two of them together it was like someone was twisting a knife in his heart._

"_Hey everyone sorry we're late!"_

_Upon hearing Sora's voice Taichi's heart gave a slight flutter and his expression turned into a goofy smile as he turned to take in the girl he was so helplessly in love with. However, upon turning to look at her his smile fell and turned into a slight scowl because there next to Sora with his arm around her shoulder was Yamato. He hated seeing them together, not just because of the way he felt about Sora, but because of the way it made him feel towards his best friend._

_Whenever he saw the two of them together his jealousy started to make him look at his best friend in a hypercritical way. Everything Yamato did when he was around Sora was analyzed under a microscope by Taichi. If he set one foot wrong, said one wrong word, had even a hair out of place Taichi would instantly count it as another reason Yamato wasn't good enough for Sora._

_However, when it was just Taichi and Yamato he would see him the same way he always had: as his fire forged best friend who he could trust with his life. Yamato's friendship was one of the things that Taichi had come to value most in life, as it had not come naturally to the two of them, rather they had to work hard to get past their superficial differences and contrasting personality types to eventually forge what was, in his opinion, an unbreakable bond._

_Upon seeing the couple approaching him Taichi strained to contort his scowl into some semblance of a smile. However, the confused and concerned expressions upon his two friends faces told him he had failed in his attempt to mask his own expression, thus letting some of his feelings show through._

"_What's wrong Taichi? Why is your face all contorted like that? It's kind of weirding me out a bit." Sora ventured seemingly hoping to to try to alleviate whatever was bothering Taichi._

"_Yeah man, I would've thought you would be all smiles today especially since everyone seemed to be so excited about today, I mean based off what you and Takeru have told me your sister hasn't stop talking about this for weeks. What gives?" Yamato added with a grin that did not match the serious concerned expression in his eyes._

_As he listened to his best friends' questions Taichi just continually stared at their interlaced fingers. Even now when they were trying to ascertain what exactly was wrong with him, they were still holding hands. He felt like he was going to be sick. All of these conflicting emotions of envy, love self loathing, betrayal, and despair swirling around made him really feel like he needed to vomit._

"_Is that necessary?" Taichi asked with a hint of disgust in his voice, continuing to stare at Yamato and Sora's entwined fingers._

"_Is what necessary Taichi?" Yamato spat back, his blue eyes sparking with anger._

_Nodding at their fingers Taichi simply answered, "That."_

"_You have a problem with me holding my girlfriend's hand in public? Who made you the arbiter of what is over the top? It's not as if we're kissing or anything. What the hell is wrong with you?" Yamato's voice built in fury with each passing question._

"_Taichi why do you have a problem with me holding Yamato's hand? It's not as if we haven't done it before in front of you. Why is this bothering you?" Sora asked with hurt entering her voice._

_Finally looking up to meet his two best friends eyes Taichi finally let the months of frustration and angst that been building up inside of him, that he had tried so desperately to contain and bottle his feelings regarding their relationship for the sake of his friendship with them, bubble over. _

"_It makes sick. Just plain sick to my stomach." Taichi paused to let the words sink in before continuing, "If I'm being honest this whole thing. This whole Yamato and Sora thing. It makes me sick. Everytime I see the two of you together I want to be sick. You two just had to go and ruin the great thing we had going with each other by falling love, didn't you? You both make sick." As he finished Taichi glared at the couple that stood before him allowing them to see how much pain he was in._

"_Taichi I-I thought you were ok with this, with us. You were the one who supported me confessing to Yamato when my I was starting to get cold feet. Why are you doing this? Why now? Just why?" Sora's voice cracked on the last question as tears streamed down her face, smearing her makeup._

_Taichi didn't answer, but rather just kept on glaring at the couple that stood before him. Pouring as much of the emotion that he had been feeling for the past few months into the glare so as to convey how seriously he was taking the manner._

_Seemingly having reached the limits of his patience Yamato let go of Sora's hand and lunged forward grabbing Taichi by the front of the shirt to force him to look directly into the blonde's very blue eyes that conveyed not only anger, but a large amount of hurt that his best friend would be acting this way._

"_Sora asked you a question so answer her, damn it!" Yamato yelled with his face inches away from Taichi's._

_Upon receiving only a glare for a response Yamato shook Taichi by his shirt before yelling, "God damn it Taichi! Stop being so stubborn! Just give us an answer! What the hell is the matter with you?!"_

"_You don't deserve her." Taichi whispered._

_Yamato suddenly released his hold of Taichi's shirt in shock, as he seemed to be processing what Taichi had just said to him. Lifting his head to look at Taichi he just stared in astonishment and anger before finally seeming to find his voice again saying, "Wow I should've known. All the signs were there. That's why you've been acting so weird for months. It all makes sense."_

_Taichi noticed Sora standing staring wide eyed and shocked at the behavior of Yamato and himself, while seemingly trying to comprehend what Yamato had just said. Taichi knew full well what Yamato had meant just then._

"_Do you really believe that?" Yamato questioned his voice laced with anger and hurt._

"_I do."_

"_Then you think you do?"_

"_Yes."_

_Taichi's last response seemed to have been somewhat of a breaking point for Yamato as the blonde musician's whole demeanor suddenly changed and he started to shake with anger. Suddenly he stalked over to Taichi and slugged him right in the face knocking the former leader to the ground and eliciting a gasp from Sora who seemed to be a paralyzed bystander at the moment._

_Sitting up and wiping some of the blood from his lip Taichi stared briefly at Yamato, before glancing at Sora who had a horrified expression on her face. Taichi now knew that he truly couldn't be around them anymore. His heart couldn't take it._

_Standing up and dusting himself off Taichi walked away slowly from the park ignoring the cries from some of his friends who had not been witness to the full altercation between him and Yamato. His days as a Chosen, as a leader, and as a true friend were truly over now. As he walked away he never spared a look back because he knew that was all it would take for him to break his resolve and go back to them._

* * *

As he lay on the couch Taichi unconsciously rubbed the spot where Yamato had punched him all those years ago. He would do anything for a second chance. A chance to make things right again with both Yamato and Sora. He had failed them as a friend and he beat himself up for it every single day.

It wasn't as if he was incapable of just finding them and apologizing, but he doubted that they would give him the time of day and he was afraid of what might happen if he did try to reconcile. All he wanted was a second chance. Maybe to hit the reset button. Erase the events of that fateful day that had destroyed years of friendship.

Suddenly a knock at the door broke him out of his state of reflection, and his mind immediately turned to the question of who would be coming to their door this late at night? It was well past socially acceptable visiting hours and he was fairly sure his parents were home, so it wasn't likely to be one of them.

He guessed it might be Hikari, as he wasn't sure if she were home or not, but that would be strange given that she had a key. He finally came to the conclusion that it probably was a drunk who got lost on their way home on a Friday night. Getting up from the couch slowly with a groan, Taichi meandered over towards the door and opened it.

Taichi couldn't help, but grin upon seeing Takeru standing in front of the door. He had always had a certain fondness for Yamato's younger brother, possibly because of how much the kid looked up to him. He remembered a time in the Digital World when a crying Takeru had even asked him to be his big brother.

The blonde boy, well now young man, standing in front of him just stood there awkwardly and silently switching his gaze between Taichi and looking past Taichi into the darkened apartment behind him. Taichi realized he would have take the initiative in this moment if he didn't want to be standing here all night.

"What're you doing here Takeru? You know it's not normal to show up on the doorstep of someone you haven't spoken with in 5 years this late at night?"

Takeru let a mix between a nervous laugh and a cough before responding, "Y-yeah, well I kind of need to talk to you about something, it's really important, but do you think we could do it out here? You know I don't want to wake your parents or anything."

Taichi couldn't help, but notice the furtive glances Takeru kept directing past Taichi, as if he was looking for something in the Yagami's apartment. Taichi shrugged off his suspicion about Takeru's odd behavior before nodding his consent and stepping out into the hallway after propping the door open with the deadbolt.

"So what's up, Takeru? Something's obviously got you spooked, so spill."

Seemingly growing in confidence now that they were out of view from the interior of the Yagami apartment, only heightening Taichi's suspicion, Takeru gave Taichi a wide smile before reaching down his shirt and pulling out an object and displaying it to Taichi. Taichi recognized it instantaneously as the Crest of Hope and his eyes threatened to bulge out of his head as he stared at it.

His mind raced with all the possible meanings behind this and the questions that accompanied those meanings. He looked up to find Takeru's smile had grown even wider now upon seeing Taichi's recognition of the Crest of Hope. Taichi wanted to ask so many questions all the same time, but was only able to ask, "What?"

Upon seeing Taichi fumble around to ask the mountain of necessary questions Takeru quickly recounted his run-in with Gennai earlier that day and how he had been going to the different Chosen to inform them of the joyous, yet foreboding news that they were needed again by the Digital World. Takeru concluded his explanation with a question of his own, "Are you in?"

Taichi didn't even have to think before responding to Takeru's question, "Of course."

Takeru quickly discussed his plan with Taichi to visit the rest of the Chosen starting in the morning as it was starting to get late and they would be harder to reach at this point, Taichi agreed with this plan and offered his help, which Takeru gladly accepted. With that Takeru departed the apartment building, but not before casting a few glances back towards the door to the Yagami's apartment with a seeming mix of longing and fear in his eyes. Taichi had a pretty solid idea what those glances were all about, but chose not to comment on them.

Watching the tall figure of Takeru disappear into the stairwell at the end of the hall, Taichi couldn't help but grin and shake his head at how the fates had seemingly heard his pleas and given him the second chance he so craved in the form of Takeru. Taichi knew that he had learned from his mistakes and this time he wouldn't fail as Sora and Yamato's friend.

After watching Takeru leave Taichi pushed the door to his apartment open and undid the deadbolt so that it could close. Turning around he saw his sister in their kitchen pouring herself a glass of water from the tap, before stopping and acknowledging his presence. She gave him a curious look, as if expecting him to explain himself.

"So who were you talking to out there Taichi?" Hikari finally questioned after a few moments of silence.

"Hello to you too, Hikari. I didn't know you were home." Taichi replied with a grin while pointedly ignoring her question.

Hikari's eyes narrowed suspiciously and she pressed, "Who was that Taichi?"

Taichi stayed silent for a few seconds while walking towards the couch in their living room, turning on the TV, before finally flopping down on it. Turning his head back towards Hikari who was still staring at him expectantly he finally spoke up in a casual tone saying, "Oh it was just Takeru."

Taichi swore in that moment he had never seen Hikari, or any other person for that matter, turn so pale, so quickly. Turning back towards the TV, his grin widened knowing his suspicions regarding Takeru had just been confirmed.

* * *

A/N: I'm a terrible person for that cliffhanger. Also, I'm sorry if the interaction between Takeru and Taichi felt a bit rushed I just felt that there wasn't much there because Taichi really wouldn't need any convincing to go back to save the Digital World. I thought his issues with Yamato and Sora, as well as the bit with Hikari were much more interesting. Hopefully it came out OK. Feel free to tell me how terrible I am for that cliffhanger or for not including more Taichi/Takeru interaction in a review!


	7. Struggling for Sincerity

A/N: The response to the last chapter was really overwhelming so thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed this story. This is the longest chapter of the story yet, and probably the fastest written. It probably has the most humor so far in the story, so hopefully that came off well. Reviews are very much appreciated and may result in the new season of Digimon arriving faster!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon and your reviews of this story have no effect on how fast the new season arrives.

* * *

_Looking back at sunsets on the Eastside_

_We lost track of the time_

_Dreams aren't what they used to be_

_Some things slide by so carelessly_

_The Killers- "Smile Like You Mean It"_

Exiting the building Takeru felt something in his gut unclench and let out the breath he didn't even know he had been holding in. He guessed that he really must have been stressed about potentially seeing Hikari. He truly wasn't certain of what he would have done if it had been her who had answered the door instead of Taichi, but he was grateful that he didn't have to think about that anymore.

Things with Taichi had gone better than he had any reason to expect. The former leader seemed to have jumped at the chance to reunite with the rest of the Chosen and seemed more than eager to help Takeru out in his task of convincing the rest of the group that it was of the utmost importance to try to reconnect with one another.

Takeru was also thankful that Taichi chose not to comment on his awkward behavior. Takeru knew that he had been rather fidgety given his abject fear of potentially seeing Hikari, and that being the perceptive person he was Taichi had surely noticed the way he kept trying to look out to see if the girl he had once been so close with was potentially approaching.

Takeru knew that sooner or later Taichi would broach the topic with him, given that Hikari was Taichi's baby sister after all. The trouble for Takeru was he just had no idea what he could say when it inevitable conversation came up. He had no good reason to not try to reconnect with Hikari now that he was trying to reunite the Chosen, but still he just couldn't find it within himself to go down that path just yet.

Walking down the street he experienced an extreme case of deja vu, as he remembered all the times he had made this same late night walk between Hikari's apartment and his own back when they were still friends. It had become a routine of sorts for him to go over to Hikari's after school on days they weren't going to the digital world and do homework there with her.

They reasoned that seeing as Hikari's apartment was significantly closer to their school than Takeru's and that they were in mostly the same classes it just made more sense to do things that way. Plus, there was the side benefit, at least from Takeru's perspective, of getting to spend time together. He had always treasured every moment he got to spend with Hikari as her presence just filled him with a warm sense of contentment.

The first few weeks and months after their group fell apart had been a brutal adjustment period for Takeru, as he would often find his feet naturally taking him towards either Hikari's locker, where he had always gone to meet her to walk home, or towards her apartment building, where they would always meet up if one or the other had extracurriculars, but he would always have to sadly remind himself that such traditions were a thing of the past.

Takeru remembered those days being right up there with the immediate aftermath of his parent's divorce as the worst days of his life. He didn't shed tears like he had when he was a small child missing his father and brother, but rather he experienced a more profound sense of sadness. He had just felt so hollow and empty with her suddenly being out of his life.

He so badly wanted to be able to burst into the Yagami apartment and just tell Hikari everything he was feeling and thinking about her all at once, but he knew that he just didn't have the fortitude to do it. It was this that had always made him jealous of Daisuke. Daisuke never had any issue telling anyone what he thought about them. The gogglehead had never made any secret of what he felt regardless of what the repercussions might be, which required true courage.

True courage was something that Takeru found himself in short supply of when it came to Hikari. For all the praise the rest of the Chosen lavished upon him for guarding her while she was ill in Machinedramon's city, or protecting her from Piedmon, or going to the Dark Ocean to ward off those creepy dark creatures that wanted to make her their queen, he believed that he still lacked basic courage. Each of those times he had merely acted on instinct and hadn't been given time to think about the situation, that wasn't true courage.

If Takeru had possessed true courage he would have shared his fears and apprehensions about their relationship with her. He would not have let 5 years go by with only half-hearted attempts to speak to her. He would have gone to her immediately after running into Gennai and repaired their relationship. At the end of the day he found himself to be a coward who had no right to feel the way he did about her, whatever that may be.

He knew that at some point, likely soon, he would have to overcome his fear and see her, but for now he would continue putting that off and instead focus on finding the rest of the Chosen. It was at this point that he realized that in all his worry over potentially seeing Hikari he had failed to make any plans about who to see next now that Taichi was back in the fold.

Thinking about who he should go to next he came up with a complete blank, as each of the outstanding members of the original Chosen were bound to have significant reservations about reuniting given that it had to have taken something fairly extreme to drive them apart, given how strong their bond had been. Takeru honestly didn't know though as he had been too focused on the dissolution of the junior team to know any details of what had happened with the older kids.

Finally, he came to the decision that we would sleep on it as well as get Taichi's input in the morning. For now, though, he would just let himself relax on the rest of his walk home. It had been quite the eventful day for him, but overall it had been the best day he had had in years. He was truly thrilled that his crest was back as well as the fact that he had already managed to reunite with 5 of the Chosen over the course of just a few hours.

Taking in the scene around him he noted that Odaiba was most definitely a different animal than Tamachi on a Friday night. The streets were teeming with life from the multitude of local bars and clubs. Everywhere he looked he could see young people laughing, smiling, and generally enjoying themselves with their friends, seemingly without a care in the world.

Takeru couldn't help but be slightly envious of them because, as much as he loved being a Chosen, sometimes he wished he could just be a normal kid with his group of friends. Just living and enjoying life to it's fullest. However, he knew that could never be the case for him and the rest of his friends, they were the Chosen protectors of the Digital World and with that came the abandonment of any sort of normalcy they might hope to hold on to.

"Oh my god! Takeru?!" A loud familiar feminine voice called out to him, bringing him back to reality.

Takeru quickly whipped his head around from side to side to try to find the source of the voice, but was having difficulty locating it due to the how crowded the streets were that night. Just as he was prepared to give up and continue on with his journey he felt his shirt being grabbed from behind, turning around he was stunned to see who was calling out to him.

"Mimi?!"

"The one and only! I'm glad you remembered me after all this time!" Mimi replied excitedly.

Takeru was rendered speechless by the shock. He had not been planning on running into any of his fellow Chosen, though he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that it was always a possibility. Still knowing it was a possibility and it actually happening were two very different things, and he was having trouble processing this surprise at the moment.

Mimi still looked mostly the same, but her hair was now permanently back to it's natural honey brown color that he was so used to seeing during their first adventure. When he had first seen her with the hot pink hair that had been her style 6 years ago he was stunned, yet also not all that surprised. Of course Mimi would change her hair to her favorite color on a whim, that was just so Mimi. Spontaneity came as naturally to her, as breathing did to everyone else.

She was dressed in very much her own unique, yet stylish sense of fashion. She was wearing a simple pink v-neck t-shirt along with jean shorts that showed off her toned and tanned limbs. Completing the ensemble was a pair of flip flops on her feet that gave her a very seasonally appropriate look. One thing that particularly caught Takeru's eye was the necklace she was wearing with a green tear drop pendant that closely resembled her crest.

"I can't believe I ran into little Takeru here of all places! Isn't it a little late for you to be out? Like way past your bedtime?" Mimi joked with him while messing up his hair.

"Ha-ha Mimi I'm not so little anymore." Takeru replied sardonically while fixing his hair as best he could.

Mimi cocked her head to the side while pursing her lips, staring at him for a moment as if trying to process what he had just said before replying, "Hmm I guess you're right. Well you'll still always be little Takeru to me, even if you do look more like Yamato now." Mimi erupted into a fit of girly giggles as she finished leaving Takeru thoroughly confused as to what was so funny.

It was then that he noticed a particular, very familiar scent on Mimi, but it wasn't perfume. Takeru racked his brain to try to form the connection between the scent and what it could be, but he was struggling due to how tired he was. As he looked around the area for any sort of inspiration he saw an ad for Sapporo beer that instantly triggered the connection in his mind.

"Mimi...are you...drunk?" Takeru asked cautiously hoping not to offend or make any sort of accusation based on a hunch.

"Maaaaybe. Why do you wanna know?" Mimi replied mischievously while laughing.

Rolling his eyes and resisting the powerful urge to smile at the girl's silly behavior he pressed the issue, "Mimi you know the drinking age in Japan is 20, right? So you could get in a lot of trouble for being drunk in public."

Mimi laughed at his stern overbearing demeanor while reaching up and pinching his cheeks, "Aww little Takeru is worried about his big sister Mimi! That's so sweet! I could just eat you up!" Mimi cooed in a babyish voice.

Now Takeru couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of Mimi's behavior towards him. He knew that her behavior was equal parts messing with him, drunken foolishness, and Mimi's eternal view of him as the wide eyed innocent 8 year old in the big green hat. He guessed that was something that he would never be able to grow out of, not that he really minded though.

Taking a peek at his watch Takeru saw that the time was fast closing in on 11 and he had to make it home soon before his mother started to worry about him, she was still just as overprotective as Yamato used to be. He cringed at this thought, but quickly shook it away and returned his focus to the task at hand.

Takeru could tell that Mimi was in no shape to make it home on her own, but he didn't really have any idea where she was living now that she was back in Japan. He never had taken the opportunity to go visit her in the few months before everything had fallen apart, something that he was seriously regretting at the moment, as it could have proved very helpful in this situation.

Finally coming to a decision in his mind he knew what he had to do, and he cringed at how awkward it was going to be. Clearing his throat to get Mimi's attention, as she was currently pointing out random things in the crowd in an excited yet nonsensical manner, Takeru spoke up in an awkwardly serious tone saying, "Mimi I'm taking you home with me tonight, so let's go."

Upon hearing this Mimi's face flamed up as red as a stop sign and she stared wide eyed in shock at Takeru, instantly making him regret his choice of words. Her look of shock then softened to one of pity as she said, "Oh um Takeru, well, I do love you, but just not like that. I mean I'm flattered and a little bit surprised, but I don't think this, us, doing that, would be a good idea. I'm really sorry."

Takeru face palmed upon hearing Mimi's response. He genuinely wanted to crawl into a hole and die out of embarrassment at that moment. He couldn't believe how unbelievably poor his choice of words was. How else could she have interpreted it? He knew had to fix this before things got even more awkward.

"No no no no no. That's totally not what I meant. I really phrased that in the worst way possible. What I meant to say is that you should come back to my place to sleep this off since I live like 5 minutes away, and you're in no shape to get home on your own. I promise no funny business. Nice warm bed, breakfast in the morning, all included free of charge. What do you say?"

Mimi's blush started to fade as she exhaled seemingly relieved that she had misinterpreted the situation and that Takeru was not propositioning her. She then stared at Takeru for a beat before giving him a brilliant smile, "Ok deal. You're such a gentleman Takeru, the ladies must be throwing themselves at you." Mimi said, giving him a playful wink.

Takeru unsuccessfully tried to fight back the blush that bloomed on his face at Mimi's flattering comment, he was definitely not used to dealing with this kind of flattery from girls, especially ones as beautiful as Mimi, though he had to admit it felt kind of nice. However, his pride would not let Mimi have the last laugh when it came to this embarrassment by flattery.

Dropping to one knee he took her hand in his own and planted a kiss on it before speaking in an overly airy manner saying, "Princess, if you would allow it, I would like to escort you back to your boudoir so that you may retire for the night." He finished by bowing his head in deference.

However, out of the corner of his eye he could see Mimi's blush return with a vengeance as she erupted into a fit of girlish giggles which caused him to grin widely as he knew had been wildly successful in gaining the upper hand in their flattery contest, though he did suspect her inebriation assisted in his victory.

Pulling Takeru to his feet, Mimi took his arm in hers and replied in a similarly airy voice while laughing, "Lead on Sir Knight, and do make haste as I am quite weary."

Takeru did as he was told and the duo walked on towards his apartment laughing and joking with each other the rest of the way, consistently trying to one up each other in absurdity and flattery. This behavior resulted in many passers by giving them odd looks and making comments about young love and what a cute couple they were, but they were too busy having fun to notice or care.

Sleep came swiftly to Mimi and before she knew it the real world had melted away, replaced by her dreams. However, instead of dreaming of pleasant things or silly things Mimi dreamt of that day, 5 years ago, when her life had fallen apart so quickly. She remembered that for her the trouble had started when she had overheard Yamato shouting…

_Mimi's attention was drawn away from the pleasant conversation she had been having with Jyou when she heard the shouts coming from the direction of Taichi, Yamato, and Sora. Shouting between the three of them was not cause for concern in and of itself, as that trio could bicker like no one's business and could all be quite hot headed when it came to each other._

_What really drew Mimi's attention was when she heard the hurt in Yamato's voice. That was clearly not normal. Yamato was famously guarded about his emotions and very rarely let anyone see how he was feeling, and never in such a public fashion like this. Something had to be seriously wrong._

_Then she saw it happen. What amounted to the Chosen's version of the "Shot heard round the world." Yamato's punch was the blow that finally compromised the structural integrity of the Chosen's bond. The chain reaction that ensued ended up destroying in a few hours time, what the Chosen had spent years building._

_Mimi had rushed over immediately, but was frozen in her place as she saw Taichi stand up with the most defeated expression she had ever seen on his face. Sure she had seen him look distressed and even afraid before, but never defeated. He just looked broken and she knew that it wasn't the punch itself that had caused him to go into that state, it had to be something deeper._

_Her train of thought was suddenly disrupted as she saw Taichi slowly walking away from the park, from his friends, from the team that he had lead through the most dangerous experiences in their lives. She knew that if he walked away like this, without any closure, without forgiveness there was no coming back. It was then she decided that she had to at least try to get him to stop._

"_Taichi! Wait! Don't leave! We're all your friends still! We can figure this out! Just come back!"_

_Her words fell on deaf ears and he continued walking as if he hadn't heard anything. Suddenly she was surprised to find hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She hadn't been a part of the fight, she had very little idea what had occurred between the two best friends, but she knew that regardless Taichi was making a mistake in leaving. Whatever this was he and Yamato could fix it, they had to._

"_Forget him. He took the coward's way out and he'll have to deal with the consequences." _

_The coldness in Yamato's voice jarred Mimi from her stupor of staring at the shrinking figure of Taichi. She couldn't believe that he had said such harsh things about his best friend. She was horrified that two people as close as Taichi and Yamato could suddenly turn on each other so quickly and callously. Wheeling around she decided to admonish Yamato for the way he was acting and tell him to go after his best friend and work out whatever was wrong between the two, but Sora beat her to it._

"_What the hell Yamato! Taichi is your best friend in the whole world! He would die for you! How can you let him leave like that?!"_

_Mimi saw Yamato stare at his girlfriend with a mixture of disbelief and hurt in his eyes that seemed to be brimming with unshed tears. For what seemed like hours the assorted Chosen just stood there in quiet tense silence, Mimi was faintly aware of what sounded like shouting coming from the younger group of Chosen who were elsewhere in the park, but she was far too focused on her present situation to really process it._

"_Do you even know what he said to me? Do you even know what this is about?"_

_Yamato's voice was quiet as it broke the silence, but it seemingly was laced with even more emotion than when he was yelling. Mimi thought he genuinely seemed like he was hurting in a bad way, as if he was the victim in this situation, not his best friend who had punched for seemingly making a tactless comment, as he was wont to do._

_Sora's eyes were now red from shedding many tears of her own and her voice wavered a bit as she responded to Yamato, "I don't care Yamato. All I know is that you punched your best friend and that you're not even sorry for it. would do anything for you. The way you're acting now- this isn't the Yamato I fell in love with."_

_Sora last few words had come out as barely a whisper, but the silence all around them had made them as audible as if she had yelled them. Those words had broken Mimi's resolve. She had uprooted her life in New York because she wanted to come back to see her friends again and now they were tearing each other apart. She just couldn't take it anymore._

"_Stop it! Just stop it! Both of you! I moved back here because I missed all of you so much when I was in New York, but now you're all fighting! I hate this! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"_

_Mimi's breaths were coming short and fast at this point resulting from her outburst and the tears streaming down her face. Suddenly she felt a hand a calming hand alight on her shoulder and the turned and came face to face with Jyou. She knew exactly what he was going to say, and she didn't want to hear it. She didn't need to hear it._

"_Don't say anything. Don't you dare." Mimi spat at Jyou brushing his hand off, while glaring daggers._

"_Mimi-" Jyou started in a calming voice that was still laced with worry._

_Mimi was done listening, however, as she stood there shaking with a combination of fury at and anguish over her friends' behavior. She knew that she couldn't take any more of this fighting and negativity. She suddenly made up her mind. She ran. She ran as fast as her feet would allow her. She wanted to escape. She had no destination in mind because after all she wasn't running from anyone, she was running from her emotions._

The morning light streaming in through a crack in the blinds caused Mimi's eyes to flutter open ever so briefly before being shut tight due to the pain the light was causing. She felt abysmal this morning. Her head was spinning and it felt like someone had seen fit to hit her several times in the head, such was the throbbing pain she was experiencing.

Something was off though. It wasn't the way she felt, she understood that, even if the details were a bit hazy. No, something else was bothering her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. As she lay in bed with her eyes closed she racked her brain to try to figure out how she had gotten home last night and was coming up empty.

Using her senses Mimi began to become alarmed when she noticed that her room did not smell at all like her room at the moment, in fact if she had to say it smelt like a guy's room. But that was impossible, she would know if she was in some guy's room. She wouldn't go home with a guy on a drunken whim...she wasn't that easy. However, it was really starting to worry her that she couldn't remember how she got home last night.

Mimi finally decided to force her eyes open so she could confirm that she was indeed in her room, but was dismayed to find that she was in a strange room. The yellow sheets and the green comforter most definitely had a man's smell to them and were clearly not the pink ones she had at home.

Looking around the room some more it was a fairly simple, sparsely furnished, room with walls painted hunter green, a bookshelf against the far wall nearest to the door, a desk and chair to her right positioned up against the window, the wall to her left was actually a closet with a dresser inside (seemingly for economy of space), next to the bed was a simple nightstand with a lamp on it, and on the other side of the bed along the same wall was the door.

Mimi paused her inspection of the room when her mind started to go through all the possibilities of what could have happened to her last night given that she was in some guy's bed with no memory of how she got there. She began to become extremely anxious and began to try to figure out any way to figure out if something happened to her.

Then it struck her. The most obvious way to check was to look at herself to see if she were clothed and go from there. With some trepidation Mimi pulled back the sheets and comforters and let out a huge sigh of relief when she found that she was wearing the same clothes that she had gone out in the night before. She almost laughed in spite of herself now that she knew nothing untoward had happened.

Sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed Mimi let them dangle there for a moment while laying her hand on the night table to help stabilize her due to her dizziness. As the world settled into it's normal stationary state, Mimi noticed the glass of water and two Advil that had been left on the night table for her, ostensibly by whoever this bed belonged to.

Mimi realized that this gesture meant that whoever she had come back with was well aware of her state and knew what the consequences would be in the morning. She couldn't help but think that it was very sweet of them and as she took the tablets, she made a mental note to thank them if and when she saw them. Based on the hushed voices she could hear from the other side of the door she suspected that it would be sooner rather.

Staggering to her feet using the wall for support, as her legs were still a bit unsteady, Mimi made her way over to the door and began to open it. She had decided that it was about time she started the day, even though she had no idea what time it actually was. Upon opening the door she heard the hushed voices immediately go quiet and felt two pairs of eyes on her.

Turning her head in the direction she had heard the voices coming from Mimi found two boys sitting on a couch staring at her with differing expressions. One had a giant mane of unruly brown hair and was looking at her with an extremely amused grin plastered across his face. Mimi gasped as she recognized Taichi thanks to his rather unique hair, but couldn't help but be curious about the grin on his face.

Did he know something that happened last night that she didn't remember? Did she do something with him? Was this his apartment? Where was Hikari? Mimi was so overwhelmed by the questions that she had completely forgotten about the second boy on the couch until he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Hey Mimi, are you feeling any better? You were pretty wasted last night, you kept calling me a baby and treating me like a little boy…" Takeru trailed off awkwardly while blushing.

Taichi started to laugh uncontrollably at what Takeru had said causing him to glare daggers at Taichi while his blush deepened. Mimi for her part couldn't help, but start to chuckle at the absurdity of the whole situation she was in: waking up in the apartment of a friend she hadn't spoken to in 5 years hungover with no memory of the night before. This was truly a spectacular mess she had gotten herself into.

Seeing Takeru picking up a pillow while continuing to glare daggers at Taichi, presumably to try to stop the former leader's laughing by smothering him, Mimi suddenly remembered that she hadn't responded to his question earlier and now seemed like a good time to do it.

"Umm I'm feeling a bit better. I still have a headache, thanks for the advil and the water by the way. I suspect that it will do wonders for this splitting headache."

Mimi's voice halted Takeru just as he had the pillow inches from Taichi's face. Dropping the pillow and turning back to Mimi he gave her a somewhat sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head, seemingly unsure what to do with her thanks. Takeru suddenly seemed to come to a realization as his eyes lit up with the look of someone who had just had a bright idea.

"So um...do you remember anything from last night? Like how you met up with me or how you got here? You were pretty messed up..." Takeru asked cautiously.

"Well not exactly, no." Mimi responded with the smile of a child who had been caught red handed doing something wrong but was determined to charm their way out of it.

Taichi, who had momentarily reined in his hysterical laughter, whipped his head back and forth between Takeru and Mimi with a great sense of amusement playing in his eyes. Mimi had never wanted to punch him more than she did at the moment due to his enjoyment of her misfortune and embarrassment, but refrained because she suspected that it might send him into another fit of laughter.

"I really wish I had some popcorn right now. This is too good." Taichi announced grinning widely at Takeru and Mimi, who responded by shooting him their best death stares. Unfortunately this only caused him to go into another fit of laughter. Mimi was certain that she really wanted to disappear at the moment.

"So you don't remember anything, do you?" Takeru said with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"Ummm nope. But thanks for being such a gentleman and not taking advantage of me! You're a real gem." Mimi responded with a bright smile. Suddenly a bright idea to tease the poor boy entered her head, "It's too bad you're so young, otherwise I might consider you boyfriend material. You're really not too hard on the eyes, not at all." Mimi finished with a playful wink and blew Takeru a kiss, causing his face to burn up brighter than she had ever seen.

As Takeru sputtered to try to respond to Mimi's comments, Taichi howled louder than ever with laughter so much so that tears were streaming down his face. Once he regained his composure Taichi sat up and started to give Takeru a noogie while joking, "Who woulda guessed it? Little Takeru grew up to be a real ladykiller. God Teeks I can't believe you would break my little sister's heart like that, going for an older woman. I guess I'll have to break the news to her that you two aren't destined to be together after all."

Now Mimi was the one would couldn't control her laughter as she doubled over clutching her stomach as she cackled at Taichi's remarks and Takeru's now redder than red face and frozen expression. Mimi mused that Taichi really must have hit a nerve bringing up Hikari, which pleased her to no end. She thought it was just too perfect and too cute that he might have feelings for Hikari and that maybe she might return those feelings.

Managing to suppress his blush to an extent, his face was still very pink from his previous embarrassment, Takeru's face took on a more serious expression, which confused Mimi as they had just been having such a great time and she didn't see why he would be so serious all of a sudden.

"So it's actually kind of convenient that I ran into you last night because we were actually going to try to find you today. There's something kind of important we needed to talk to you about." Takeru began in a somewhat somber tone with all previous signs of amusement gone from his eyes. "I think Taichi might be able to explain it a bit better than me though...so Taichi?"

Both Mimi and Taichi cast a confused glance at Takeru before Taichi turned back to look at Mimi saying, "Right. Um. So basically Gennai or some projection of him or something came our world to see Takeru and he told him that some evil is threatening the Digital World and that we all have to go back and stop it. Before you ask, no he didn't tell Takeru what the evil was or what we would have to do when getting there because well Gennai is a sadistic jerk who likes to torture by giving us just enough info to screw us over."

Mimi stared wide eyed at Taichi for a moment trying to process the information that just got dumped on her so suddenly. She had just been happy to have reunited with two of her former friends, it really had been one of the best mornings she'd had in a long time, but now this info changed everything. They were going back to the Digital World, presumably to fight again. That notion scared her as much as it excited her.

"Oh and yeah Gennai gave Takeru the Crest of Hope back, but said the rest of us have to 'earn ours back' or some crap. What a frickin jerk! I mean why did Takeru of all people get his back, little squirt has never done anything to help us." Taichi added in a disgruntled manner.

Mimi laughed and Takeru rolled his eyes at Taichi's half-joking rant about Gennai. Mimi then realized that the two boys were staring at her seemingly waiting for her to actually respond to the information that she had been given.

"This is so much, so soon. It's like we haven't seen each other for 5 years and now we're all running off to another world together. It seems all a bit crazy…" Mimi paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, however upon seeing the worried frowns on the two boys' faces Mimi knew that she had to reassure them quickly. "But I wouldn't have it any other way really. Normal life is soooo overrated."

Taichi laughed in relief and Takeru sighed while rubbing his face seemingly to try to get rid of the stress that had presumably been coursing through him. Now that that was settled Mimi took a moment to look at her current state and suddenly realized that she looked like a complete mess, with her clothes completely wrinkled and her hair giving Taichi's a run for it's money as messiest in the group she knew she definitely could not be seen in public like this.

"Um so while it's been lovely to hang out with you boys, and it really has, I kinda need a shower and new clothes. Like ASAP. So I'm gonna go now...bye!"

With that Mimi quickly grabbed her shoes and made her way out the door. She couldn't believe how quickly her life had turned around and she had drunk Mimi's complete lack of inhibition when it came to social situations to thank for it. Keeping that thought in mind Mimi beamed all the way home ignoring the fact that she was turning heads for the entirely wrong reasons, she was too excited to see Palmon again to care.

Watching the door shut behind Mimi, Taichi realized that now would likely represent his best opportunity to get some answers out of Takeru regarding whatever the weird situation was with Hikari. The look on Hikari's face at the mere mention of Takeru the previous night told him all he need to know about why she had been such a pale imitation of herself over the last 5 years.

Turning his gaze on Takeru, Taichi decided to be straight and to the point with him, "What's going on with you and Hikari? What happened? Don't say nothing because I know it's nothing. I'm not stupid."

Takeru quickly met his gaze and Taichi could see the mix of emotions that were swimming in his blue eyes. Takeru was obviously very affected by the mere mention of Hikari, just as she had been by the mention of Takeru. There was something very wrong here and Taichi wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"What happened between me and Hikari, is between us. No one else. This is our problem to fix. I know you're trying to look out for Hikari as her big brother, but this is not your problem to solve." Takeru's tone left no room for argument, as he seemed determined not to divulge whatever happened between them.

Taichi sighed in defeat realizing that he wasn't going to get through to the blond boy at this point. Takeru was just as stubborn as himself, making Taichi really start to hate how likeminded the two of them could be at times. Whatever was going on between Takeru and Hikari, Taichi knew that it was being exacerbated by their absence from each other's lives.

"Let's get going, we should try to find the others as quickly as possible. We don't want to waste time the Digital World might not have." Takeru said in a firm tone as he got up from the couch and walked towards the door.

Taichi nodded his agreement and began to follow after Takeru towards the door. He still knew that had to find some way to convince Takeru to reconcile with Hikari. It was in everyone's best interest. He wasn't sure what he could possibly say to Takeru that would give him the courage to see her again, but he had to try something, anything. Suddenly it dawned on him what he could say.

"She misses you. A lot."

Takeru's hand froze in the middle of turning the door handle and he just stood there still as a statue. He seemed to be having trouble processing what Taichi had said, let alone thinking of a way to respond to that statement. Taichi saw him take a deep breath in, as if to calm himself before he finally seemed to find his voice.

"I miss her too."

* * *

I originally wrote an ending that was much crueler to you readers, but ultimately decided it didn't fit. So be happy for that! Also, I've had some great ideas for the next arc of this story (remember that they're reuniting for a reason). I plan for it to really expand the scope and scale of the story while getting into some interesting themes and character dynamics with Chosen other than Takeru, even though he will still be the main character, the world just doesn't revolve around him as unfortunate as it may be.

Not sure how soon I'll be updating...probably not as quickly as these last two (granted I never thought this chapter would be done so fast) I need to really think up where to go next. Anyways enough of my pointless rambling.

Please review!


	8. Knowledge of Ignorance

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed for the great response to the last chapter, I'm glad that the humor came out well. Crazy that this story has eclipsed 25 reviews already so I'm thankful to everyone for that. This chapter is not my favorite and was difficult to write. Hopefully it's ok, let me know in a review.

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon.

* * *

_When you're at the end of the road_

_And you lost all sense of control_

_And your thoughts have taken their toll_

_When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul_

_Green Day- "21 Guns"_

He couldn't take this feeling anymore. This feeling of impotency, of uselessness, of just being a bystander to this whole saga. He had always prided himself on being a doer. He was never really one to just sit back and let life happen to him, he happened to life. Now, however, he was being forced to sit by and stew while two of his best friends continually hurt each other and themselves through some misguided mix of pride and fear.

He had been told explicitly by both Miyako and Ken not to get involved because it wasn't any of his business. He had agreed to it knowing that he did not really have any other choice at that point. However, the more he had thought about it last night, the more he became agitated until the point where he knew he would explode if he didn't do something.

That was how he found himself in his current situation: pacing outside the door to the Yagami family's apartment preparing himself to confront the girl he had once been so infatuated with that he consistently made a fool out of himself in an effort to impress her. Daisuke now was regretting not having really thought this course of action through.

He had no idea what the hell he was supposed to say to Hikari after having not spoken to her for the last 5 years. To make matters worse Takeru was such a sensitive topic with her, just as Hikari was a sensitive topic with Takeru, thus Daisuke knew that he would have to approach this somewhat carefully and with a modicum of grace, neither of which had ever been a strong suit of his, he always found himself preferring to be blunt.

Growling in frustration at his inability to come up with something coherent in his head Daisuke decided to do what he did best: wing it. He figured that if worst came to worst and he put his foot in his mouth, which was a very real possibility, Hikari was a kind enough person to let it slide.

With his mind made up Daisuke raised his hand and rapped on the door three times in quick succession before taking a deep breath and steeling himself for whatever lay beyond the door. A small cowardly part of him hoped that nobody was home at the moment and that he could extricate himself from what would probably be looked back on as a dumb mistake.

The sound of soft footsteps approaching the door quickly dispelled his hopes of being able to get away scot free. As the door opened to reveal Hikari, he felt his heart skip a beat and butterflies begin to rise in his stomach. It was amazing to him that just the mere sight of her still had this effect on him even after 5 years of separation.

Seeing Hikari's wide eyed stare snapped Daisuke back to reality and he quickly quashed his thoughts about his former, and maybe current, infatuation with her. He had come here on a mission that did not concern his relationship with Hikari, that wasn't what mattered at this point. Daisuke was here to fix things up between her and Takeru.

Their relationship was so fundamentally important to not only each other, but it also served as a bedrock for their entire team. Daisuke understood the dynamics of the team he had once led extremely well and he knew that in order for it to truly thrive again Takeru and Hikari needed to get over whatever was plaguing them. Their relationship was the glue that held the rest of the team together.

"D-Daisuke wha-what are you doing here?" Hikari questioned with an extremely confused expression on her face.

Daisuke responded with only a grin before pushing past the slightly stunned Hikari, Daisuke walked into the Yagami apartment and went straight for Hikari's room. He was looking for something in particular, something that he could use to help illustrate his point about how dumb Hikari and Takeru's ongoing...whatever was going on between them, Daisuke wasn't really sure at this point, was dumb.

"Daisuke! Why are you in my room?!"

Daisuke ignored Hikari's shouts from the hallway as he quickly looked around the room before spying exactly what he was looking for. It was proof positive that she still cared about her former best friend, why else would she still have it in her room despite not speaking to him in over 5 years. It was a picture of Takeru and Hikari that they had taken 6 years ago in New York while visiting Mimi.

"Daisuke!" This time Hikari's voice had an edge to it causing Daisuke to whirl around and face her. Hikari had pretty much the angriest expression that he thought she could muster on her face and Daisuke knew that he had to act quickly to get things back on track otherwise he would lose his chance to even broach the topic of Takeru.

"First, sorry for barging in here and all, but I can explain! I'm here on a mission." Daisuke flashed Hikari a big grin, which elicited a scowl in response from her as she put her hands on her hips and looked at him expectantly, seemingly waiting for him to continue his explanation.

Raising the picture of her and Takeru from New York, Daisuke pointed to the blonde haired Chosen before continuing, "We need to talk about Takeru and whatever the hell happened between the two of you. Blondie jumps just hearing your name. What happened between the two of you?"

Daisuke saw Hikari flinch while slightly blushing as she heard his words and could see the mix of hurt and guilt in her eyes. Now he was really dying to know what happened and how he could fix it. He couldn't stand to see his friends like this, especially now that he saw that Hikari was just as bad as Takeru when it came to dealing with the subject of their relationship.

"He does?" Hikari asked meekly seemingly afraid to get confirmation.

"Yeah he's actually afraid of you. It's really sad, to be honest." Daisuke confirmed resignedly as he wished more than anything he were exaggerating.

Hikari seemed to be lost in thought upon receiving Daisuke's confirmation possibly trying to process the information. Daisuke could only guess as to what Hikari's current thoughts could be knowing that Takeru, the boy who had spent a good portion of his life protecting her, was deathly afraid of just the mention of her name. If he had to guess it was a definite shock to her system.

"I-I think you should go. Thank you for thinking of me, but I just...need to figure this out on my own. It was good to see you, Daisuke." Hikari suddenly said in a quiet but firm voice. When she spoke one thing that caught Daisuke's attention was that she was not looking at him when she spoke. Rather her focus seemed to be entirely on the picture of her and Takeru that he was holding up.

"Alright if that's what you want then I guess...I'll leave." As much as he wanted to fight to stay he knew that it was best if he went. If Hikari did not want his help he had to respect that choice.

On his way out Daisuke made sure to give back the picture of her with Takeru back knowing that it truly had to be precious to her to hold on to after all these years. Some selfish and envious part of his heart wept for the fact that he would never occupy that level of importance to Hikari, but deep down what made him the saddest was the fact that she and Takeru were hurting themselves for reasons unknown to anyone but themselves and refused to allow anyone to help them.

Still Daisuke could only shake his head in frustration over Hikari's behavior. He just would never understand the quirks that made Hikari who she was the way that Takeru did. He guessed that was why they were so close. That was also what made this situation so frustrating. Seemingly the only people who could help Takeru and Hikari at this point were Takeru and Hikari. Daisuke could only hope that the two of them would figure it out sooner rather than later, only the fate of two worlds depended on it.

* * *

The silence that hung between them since his simple yet obvious admission was deafening. Takeru had no idea what to say to Taichi at this point. He wasn't even sure if there was anything that could be said at this moment. When he told Taichi that he missed Hikari it was the first time he had admitted it aloud since since his relationship with her had fallen apart.

It wasn't something that was a new realization for him, as he had known he had missed her every second since they had gone their separate ways at the park that day. However, saying it aloud made it more real in a way that it had never been before. The dull persistent ache that existed in his heart over the past 5 years now felt as new as ever. He felt as though his heart was weeping for what was lost and what could have been.

Takeru was suddenly startled when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Taichi who had apparently decided to take the initiative of breaking the silence between them. For a moment Taichi just stared into Takeru's eyes, which lead him to believe that Taichi was searching for confirmation of something before speaking.

"I know you're probably thinking a lot about my sister right now, but unless you're going to do something about it immediately you need to stop."

Taichi's tone had been firm, but compassionate. Takeru realized that Taichi must have caught on to the fact that he was getting lost in his own thoughts about Hikari. Takeru wasn't exactly sure why Taichi would insist on him dropping this line of thought, but he had to trust that the former leader's reasons were sound. Takeru knew from experience that Taichi always had everyone's best interest at heart so he knew he it was probably best to listen.

"I guess you're right...so what now?" Takeru asked despite having some of his own ideas for what they should do next. He decided it would probably be best to hear what Taichi had to say on the matter. Takeru figured that Taichi must have had some idea of his own what their next step should be given that after they had left the Takaishi apartment the former leader had been heading in a determined direction.

"I was thinking we should go to see Koushiro. I bet he won't need too much convincing to join up with us after we explain what's going on. Plus he could get in touch with Gennai or something to figure out what exactly is going on in the Digital World that we're needed back after all this time. It's probably best if we don't go in blind."

"Makes sense. If anybody can get us some info on whatever is going on it would be him. Only thing I'm worried about is do you think he'll believe us? Like do you think he'll think we're making this stuff up as just an excuse to get the group to get back together?" Takeru asked thoughtfully. He knew they had an ace up their sleeve in the Crest of Hope, but he wasn't certain that was the best way to convince him to come back, it felt exploitative in a way.

"Well I thought about that, but Koushiro isn't really the skeptical type. If anything he's more likely to believe something, especially when it's about the Digital World. The guy has always been the first to believe stuff about that place so I think he'll believe us. Not to mention it'd be a really weird thing to lie about, which he'd definitely figure out."

Takeru considered Taichi's words for a moment and nodded his agreement and let the former leader lead on towards Koushiro's home. As they walked Takeru began to wonder why Taichi had opted to go see Koushiro before anyone else. It wasn't that his reasoning wasn't sound, it really did make sense, but rather it was curious because Takeru would have thought that Taichi would have insisted on seeing either Sora or Yamato given their former closeness.

Takeru had to wonder if Taichi was facing the same problems as he was facing when it came to Yamato and his closest female friend. Takeru wanted badly to ask Taichi about it because it could provide valuable insight into his own problems, but he knew that it inevitably lead to him having to talk about his issues with Hikari. That was something he couldn't deal with at the moment, especially with her brother.

Ultimately Takeru decided it would just be best to suppress these thoughts for the moment and focus on the task at hand. However much he wanted to find out about what exactly happened between his brother, Taichi, and Sora back 5 years ago, he knew it was best to live in the present for now and let the past come into play whenever the time was right.

* * *

Koushiro Izumi grunted in frustration as he struggled to focus on the code he was writing for his summer computer science course. He had come all the way to the high school computer lab to work on this assignment, due to the school's computers being superior to his own, but had yet to accomplish much. This particular assignment was one that required extreme attention to detail, and he had planned to spend the whole day yesterday working on it. However, he had been so distracted by memories of days gone by that he had gotten very little done.

The last 5 years had been odd for Koushiro. He felt oddly out of place as if his abilities weren't being used to their full potential. The feeling was similar to when they had first come from the Digital World after defeating Apocalymon, but there was a small yet significant difference. He felt very alone in the world.

Koushiro always found it strange when he began to feel this way. He understood that it was a basic need for humans to have social interactions, but he had generally kept such interactions to a minimum, at least when it came to non-Chosen. When it came to his fellow Chosen Children though he had always found himself glad to tear himself away from the computer and interact with them.

When the group had fallen apart 5 years ago Koushiro found himself to not have much motivation to fight for the group to stay together. It made perfect sense to him. This group of disparate personalities no longer had anything making them stay together so it was only natural that conflicts would arise and tear the group apart. The only surprising part for Koushiro was that it had happened so quickly.

However, despite his surprise Koushiro rationalized that the spectacularly quick manner that the group fell apart was due to the fact that they had been so close even with their conflicting personalities and values. This, along with the sudden unexpected separation from their partners, lead to a situation that was ripe for conflict and thus lead to their present day situation of being former friends.

Koushiro knew that he was definitely in the minority, if not the only one, when he wasn't terribly bothered by the group's infighting and dissolution. He understood that friendships weren't meant to last forever and that friends, even close ones, cycled in and out of each other's lives over the years. It was just the way of the world: nothing lasted forever. It made sense and logically he made peace with that fact,

He had remembered some members of the group, Jyou in particular, getting upset with him at the time over his lack of reaction or emotion over the fighting that was happening. Koushiro could see where they were coming from as they were distressed by the fact that some of the closest friends they had ever known, but Koushiro felt that they would get over it when given some time to reflect on it.

One thing that Koushiro didn't understand though was the deep lingering sadness he felt in his heart when he thought about his fellow Chosen. He had long ago made his peace with the fact that it was very much a natural and sensible thing that they had split apart, but he still couldn't identify why he felt so sad when they came to mind.

It defied all logic really and frustrated him to end. Koushiro felt as though he should be past feeling like that. He understood what it was to lose his friends and was fine with it. It was just how life worked, but this lingering sadness continued to crop up no matter how much he tried to will it away. He still refused to accept the fact that he missed his friends. It wasn't like they were dead or stuck in another world that he presently had no access to. To the best of his knowledge they were just fine and he was able to see them at any time should he choose to do so.

Still Koushiro knew that he had indeed been happier in those years he had spent with the rest of the Chosen, fighting by their side to save two worlds, than he was now, going through life listlessly. He had found that life just seemed very much less vibrant and more boring than it used to be. Even when he accomplished things he was proud of he did not get the same satisfaction he was used to getting out of them. He supposed it could be because he had no one to share the accomplishments with, but seriously doubted it.

The sound of someone loudly clearing their throat near the entrance to the computer suddenly caught Koushiro's attention. Spinning in his chair to admonish the offender he suddenly froze when his eyes came upon a beaming Taichi who was standing next to Takeru who was wearing a sheepish grin at his friend's behavior.

Koushiro merely stared at them wide eyed and with his mouth hanging open. He was entirely speechless at the moment as his mind raced through possibilities of why they could be here. He knew for a fact that it was obviously not for school as neither Taichi nor Takeru had shown much aptitude or interest in computers. He could also rule out social purposes as they presumably had gone to his home before coming here. That left one possibility…

"What happened or is happening in the Digital World?" Koushiro asked quickly and assertively. He knew that had to be why they came to see him so out of the blue, and thus figured beating around the bush was pointless.

Both Takeru and Taichi stood there silently for a few moments with shocked expressions on their faces. They seemingly were having a difficult time processing the fact that Koushiro had deduced their reason for being there so quickly. Taichi seemingly recovered from his shock first as a mischievous grin spread across his face.

"What? Two guys can't just visit their buddy? What's wrong with that Koushiro?" Taichi asked while trying to fight down laughter.

"I'm not stupid Taichi. Please just tell me what is going on in the Digital World so that we can get on with fixing whatever is happening in the Digital World." Koushiro answered while rolling his eyes.

Takeru moved to answer Koushiro's question before Taichi put a hand up to silence the younger boy before answering Koushiro himself saying, "What gives you the right to say what our motives for visiting you are? And what if there is danger in the Digital World? Why should we be the ones telling you? Aren't you supposed to be the one who's supposed to know everything about that place?"

Koushiro stared at Taichi in disbelief at his absurd behavior before deciding he should use a different tactic to get the answers he wanted. Turning his attention to Takeru who seemed to be caught between being amused by and embarrassed at Taichi's behavior Koushiro decided that he would be more forthcoming and not play stupid games for the sake of his own amusement.

"Takeru can you please tell me what's going on? I honestly want to know so I can help." Koushiro asked in an exasperated tone that he hoped convey how frustrated he was by Taichi's impishness.

Takeru looked to Taichi for approval, which he got in the form of a nod while the former leader glared at Koushiro, before answering, "Yesterday afternoon Gennai came to me, in this world, and told me that there was some great new evil or darkness threatening the Digital World. He said that we all need to go back to fight it and that all our partners are with him at his house."

Koushiro took a moment to take all this information in. He had mixed feelings about the fact he was right in his assumption about the reason for Taichi and Takeru's visit. On the one hand he was excited to be heading back to the digital world and to hear that Tentomon was safe, but on the other hand he was worried about the potential impact on this world that the Digital World's threat might pose.

"Did Gennai tell you anything about the nature of this new evil? Like who they are, what they're doing, any info that might be of help?" Koushiro inquired searchingly, hoping that maybe Takeru could provide him with some more info.

"Not exactly, no. He did give me this though…" Koushiro's eyes widened as Takeru pulled his crest out from under his shirt and showed it to him before continuing, "I figure if the Crests are actually back that whatever is happening must be pretty dangerous. I'm sorry I don't know anything else. He kind of disappeared- well actually he did disappear before I could come up with any good questions for him."

"So who else have you gotten back in the fold so far? I assume I'm not the first person you've come to right?" Koushiro asked deciding to move on to gathering information that Takeru likely would have.

"Yeah besides Taichi and you, I've already talked to Iori, Miyako, Daisuke, Ken, and Mimi. We're going to try to get to the rest of the of the group before the end of the day and then make a plan for getting back to the Digital World." Takeru answered with a smile, seemingly happy to be providing some complete info. One thing about the list struck Koushiro as curious and he felt the need to ask Takeru about it.

"What about Hikari? Or Yamato for that matter? I would have assumed they would have been the first two people you went to, given your relationships with them." Koushiro asked out of genuine curiosity. He couldn't think of any reason why Takeru wouldn't have gone to them first. However, as he observed Takeru stiffen and his expression darken upon hearing the question he realized there had to be something going on that he wasn't aware of.

Takeru continued to stand there stiffly refusing to meet either Taichi or Koushiro's eyes, but rather had his glance firmly cast at the ground. Taichi, in typical Taichi fashion, broke the silence in the room by changing the topic saying, "Koushiro, I think it'd probably be best if you try to contact Gennai and maybe get us some info on what we're going to be up against when we get to the Digital World."

Koushiro had planned on doing that anyway, but recognized Taichi's effort to save Takeru from discussing something he was clearly uncomfortable talking about so he agreed to it and wished Taichi and Takeru luck as they left to go to seek out the rest of the Chosen. Koushiro had no idea what exactly had happened between Takeru, Yamato, and Hikari, but hoped that it would be resolved before endangering their mission in the Digital World.

One thing Koushiro was certain of was that the lingering sadness that had plagued his heart over the last 5 years was gone. He now knew for certain why he had felt that way over the last few years. He was amazed how he could take his friends for granted and write them off so easily. Koushiro promised himself that we would never again let them go without a fight.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll have the next one out as soon as I can figure it out. Please review!


	9. Reluctant Reliability

A/N: This took longer to write than I would've liked due to various factors, so I apologize for the wait. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I'm glad it turned out better than I thought it did.

This chapter is a bit more lighthearted in nature than most of the chapters in this story mainly because the next 3 chapters are going to be pretty emotionally heavy, so I thought I'd give a bit of a reprieve here. Plus, the main focus of this chapter just doesn't strike as someone who overly serious would work too well for. Lastly, I am addicting to alliteration in my chapter titles, it's shameful really.

Hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a review! If you leave a review you might get your own partner Digimon!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon and leaving a review will not result in you getting your own partner Digimon.

* * *

'_Cause I made myself a prisoner _

_Shackled up by all my fears_

_But I feel you breaking away at the walls, _

_Make them fall, make them all disappear_

_Cash Cash- "Surrender"_

Pride was such a dangerous thing. It had caused him to lash out his friends and alienate one of them who wanted nothing more than to atone for their past wrongdoings. He had let his pride control him and dictate his actions to the extent that he rejected the opportunity to show compassion instead choosing to be cynical and cruel. He was deeply ashamed of how he had acted and hoped to God that his father had not seen his actions from Heaven. He would be so disappointed in him.

He wasn't exactly sure what even gave him the right or the justification to cast such harsh judgement on another. All people were flawed, yet he sought to condemn another for having their grief over the loss of a loved one manipulated and warped to the point where he hurt others. If anything he should have empathized with them. They both shared the knowledge of losing a loved one that they so deeply admired. Why then had he seen fit to persecute them?

However, now that so much time had passed since his deplorable behavior, he knew that the time for reflection was over. He needed to atone for his sins. He had to right the wrong that he had so grievously committed. He knew that he had no right so seek forgiveness, but he had to at least extend an olive branch, make it known that he no longer wanted to be enemies.

Takeru's sudden reappearance into his life was a blessing in that it turned his world upside down causing him to truly look deep within himself and see the error in his ways. He was now determined to do whatever it took to make up for his sins, even if it took a lifetime. He knew that both his father and his grandfather would be disappointed in the black and white way he had seen the world. By seeing the world in this manner he dishonored his father's legacy as a man who sincerely believed in the capacity of people to change.

Ken had been so patient with him, far more patient than he ever deserved, despite how poorly he treated him. Even when the rest of the Chosen had forgiven Ken and accepted him as one of their own he still persisted in demonizing him, all the while Ken merely took it, never once stooping to his level. That was why this trip to Tamachi was necessary. He needed for Ken to see how he had changed and how grateful he was for the kindness that he had shown to him.

He had ignored Daisuke and Miyako's attempts to contact him last night as he had felt this was a matter best left between Ken and himself only. They were the only two parties concerned in this matter and thus should be the only two to work it out. If he was being honest he was slightly afraid to face Ken, not for fear of what Ken would do to him, but for fear of seeing the damage he had already caused was irreparable.

Taking a deep breath he finally gathered his nerve and knocked on the door to the Ichijouji apartment. He thought back on his kendo training and tried to use every trick his grandfather had taught him to calm himself ahead of what was going to be an uncomfortable, but vitally important conversation.

The door suddenly opened to reveal Ken who wore a look of genuine shock on his face, which Iori could hardly blame him. He wasn't very much the type to show up anywhere unannounced least of all at the home of someone he had once insisted on calling an enemy despite all evidence to the contrary.

"Iori…"

"Ken."

"Why are you here? Don't you hate me?"

"No. I did."

"Did...as in past tense? As in you don't hate me anymore?"

"Yes. I've made horrible unforgivable mistakes in my treatment of you. I refused to believe that you or anyone else for that matter could change. I know now I was wrong, and to be honest I think I knew all along. I just...couldn't accept it."

"Why?"

Iori finally looked up into Ken's eyes and saw apprehension, hurt, but also genuine interest. Ken genuinely wanted to know why he had insisted on hating him and Iori knew he had to give him an answer, no matter how painful the memories it dredged up were.

"Because my father was killed by a man who he believed was reformed. After that I rejected that way of thinking. It had gotten him killed so it couldn't possibly be right. Everything was black or white, good or evil. I chose to believe in absolutes. I couldn't accept that you had changed because I still saw you as the Kaiser. I refused to accept that your grief could be twisted to make you act like a monster, even when I had allowed the same to happen to me."

Iori was fighting back the shameful tears that pricked his eyes as he knew he had no right to be crying in this situation. He was not the one who was wronged. He had not suffered the burden of having someone hate you for past mistakes. If anything what he had done was worse in his opinion than what Ken had done. At least Ken had been manipulated. Iori had let himself become this way.

"Iori...I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to respond to that. I had no idea you had lost your father. I want to say that I'm sorry...but that just doesn't feel complete or something."

"I have no right to be apologized to. I wasn't wronged in any way. I just came to thank you...I think. In a roundabout way you served as an example for me to see that my viewing the world in absolutes was horribly wrong. So thank you, but more importantly I want to make sure that there are no hard feelings between us before we go back to the Digital World. I understand if you want to hate me for the way I've treated you, and I honestly could not blame you for it."

"Yeah...no...I don't hate you Iori. I'm kind of relieved that you don't hate me anymore. I was a little worried that you might never accept me...but now this...it's good to hear. I really hope that maybe in the future we can be friends like all the others."

Iori couldn't help but smile at this in spite of the deep self loathing he still felt. He felt as though Ken had lifted a huge weight off his chest by choosing not to dwell on his past mistakes, but rather choosing to move forwards towards a potential friendship. Iori knew now why Ken had been such a perfect fit for the Crest of Kindness.

"I'd really like that Ken."

* * *

"This must be what hell feels like." Taichi groaned while stretching his arms out much like an animal bathing in the warmth of the sun earning a laugh a from Takeru.

"I always imagined hell being more of a dry heat. Way too humid right now to be hell." Takeru replied with mock thoughtfulness getting a disgruntled snort in reply from Taichi.

Right now Taichi was struggling to understand what Hikari saw in Takeru as a friend. There was no way she should be best friends with someone who so casually talked back to their elders. Where was the respect with this kid? Taichi always remembered the sweet 8 year old he had first met in the Digital World. How the hell did he become this mouthy teenager?

"Watch your tongue sonny. It's impolite to correct your elders. You used to be such a nice boy, but now...I don't know how much I like this 'grown up' Takeru." Taichi chastised while putting his hands on his hips and squinting his eyes to add to the effect of him seeming older than he was.

"Funny to hear that coming from you of all people." Takeru retorted quickly.

"Just what's that supposed to mean?!" Taichi demanded while leering suspiciously at Takeru.

Takeru shrugged dismissively as he continued walking ahead of Taichi and called back, "I'll let you decide that since you are my elder after all and therefore should be able to get the meaning. Anyways what's the plan now? We do have a job to do, in case you forgot."

Taichi once again shot Takeru a glare, despite the fact that the blonde couldn't see him, before pondering the question that had just been posed to him. If he remembered correctly the only members of the group yet to be brought back into the fold were Yamato, Sora, Hikari, and Jyou...thus making it not really much of a choice at all.

"I've decided!" Taichi announced triumphantly earning himself an eyeroll from Takeru as he sped up to walk beside the younger Chosen.

"So we're going to see Jyou right?" Takeru stated more than questioned.

Taichi couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he and Takeru had reached the exact same conclusion. It was a simple process of elimination to figure out where to go next. Hikari was not an option given that Takeru seemed to have some really deep seated issues regarding her. Neither Yamato nor Sora were particularly appealing options to Taichi at the moment given that both would be less than eager to see him given the way they had left things.

"You sir are correct." Taichi started with a crooked grin, "Now this may just be a guess, but I bet I know where we can find him."

"His apartment?" Takeru offered.

"C'mon this is Jyou we're talking about there's no way he'd just be at his apartment like a normal person on a Saturday. There's one place that I just know he'd definitely be at because it feeds his addiction."

Takeru looked genuinely puzzled by Taichi's answer as he just stared at the former leader as if he had two heads. His reaction wasn't terribly surprising to Taichi as he had been intentionally vague for the sake of building intrigue, and because he wanted to mess with the blonde in retribution for his earlier snark.

"Think Takeru! What more than anything in the world is Jyou addicted to?!" Taichi prodded hoping that this would finally get through to Takeru.

Takeru's eyes suddenly lit up in recognition, which Taichi assumed meant that the younger Chosen realized what he had been hinting at.

"Ah! He's addicted to studying!" Takeru exclaimed excitedly as he finally caught on to what Taichi had been talking about. "Though saying he's 'addicted' is kinda rude. Just because you had to be forced to ever get any studying done doesn't mean Jyou is an addict. Don't try to refute it either. I've heard the stories. They're legendary."

Taichi grimaced at this reminder of his younger days as a student. Studying truly had never really been his forte and it generally took a good deal of harassment from either Sora or Yamato or both for him to get any work done in a timely manner. Still to this day though he was of the mind that it was not his fault that there were so many things in life more interesting than school.

"Yeah yeah very funny Takeru. Don't think for a second I don't know stories about you that would make you look considerably less cool amongst the others. Maybe we can tell everyone about that time at the amusement park in the Digital World when you said-"

"Ok ok I get the point." Takeru cut him off hastily having lost the quiet confidence he had been strutting around with and now looked considerably more sheepish.

Taichi grinned malevolently before responding, "Oh and I'm sure there are some people who would love to know about Mimi sleeping-" Taichi was once again cut off this time by Takeru's hand covering his mouth.

"That is to never be spoken of again. Got it?" Takeru finished by giving him a death glare that was undermined by his flushed face.

"Ohhh Takeru not so much fun when the shoe is on the other foot is it?" Taichi cackled.

Takeru merely grunted in reply and marched off ahead of Taichi causing Taichi to laugh even harder given that Takeru surely had no idea where he was going. Taichi truly treasured the fact that he had found about the Mimi incident before anyone else because, if Takeru's reaction was any indication, it would serve as a great source of blackmail and teasing.

Life was going to pretty sweet now.

* * *

Jyou Kido was convinced that organic chemistry was going to be the death of him. Having to balance the monstrous workload that it brought to him with the rest of his coursework while also trying to be involved in extracurriculars was taking a huge toll on him. It didn't help that he also had to work a part time job to save up money for medical school. All in all time was really not something that was on his side.

The table in front of him looked as if someone had just dumped the contents of their backpack on it and left. There were open chemistry books scattered all over the table turned to very specific pages. In addition there were mountains of flashcards lying at different points of the table all waiting to be memorized before classes resumed next month. To any outsider it might've looked like a mad scientist's work station, but to Jyou this was just another average day of studying.

At the moment he was struggling with stereochemistry it just did not make sense to him and his abject failure at building accurate models was not helping at all. He was at least thankful that the library was fairly empty today, due to the fact that it was a beautiful day outside, thus allowing him the peace and quiet he desperately needed in order to get this work done.

After failing for the umpteenth time to get the electrons right on this particular model Jyou decided he needed to take a break to clear his head. He hoped that maybe once he came back with a slightly refreshed mind things would get easier. Checking his watch he inwardly groaned upon seeing that it was already noon meaning that he was certainly going to miss lunch.

As he walked through the stacks Jyou couldn't help but think about how he found himself in his current situation. All his life he had basically accepted that he had to become a Doctor because that was just what he was supposed to do. He had never once stopped to consider any alternative. When asked by others why exactly he was this way, he would always reply that it was just what he wanted to do. Jyou knew deep down that this was a lie.

There was one driving force in Jyou's life that influenced everything he did from what he ate or wore to what he considered as an acceptable career option. This one thing was essentially the trait that defined him more than anything in his opinion. Far more than reliability, that he was certain of. Jyou was defined by fear.

Jyou feared being a disappointment in his father's eyes if he did not become a successful doctor. Therefore, he dedicated his whole life to his studies. He knew that while he was smart that in order to truly reach the heights that were expected of him he couldn't try to succeed on intellect alone, rather he had to push himself harder than any of his classmates when it came to his studies.

If he did not make it into a top medical school and ultimately into a top medical program as top physician all this work and personal sacrifice he had put towards this goal would have been for nothing. The fear of that reality was what drove him in life, dictating his every decision and action. While he had been mocked at times in his life for his fear Jyou know that there was nothing that could be done about it. He could not bear to be the one son out of his family who did not measure up to his father's expectations. He was deathly afraid of that.

Jyou knew however that while fear had been a driving force in his life leading him to numerous academic achievements, it had cost him a great many things, none more precious than his relationships with the rest of the Chosen. They had been the best and really only friends he had ever had, yet he had been too paralyzed by his fear to do anything while the group fell apart before his eyes.

Jyou had always believed himself to be a peacemaker in the group, serving as a pacifier for when things got heated, yet he knew that was far from reality. Whether it be at the foot of Infinity Mountain, the desert on Server, or in Puppetmon's forest, he had been continually inept when it came to brokering peace among the group. He just could never find it within himself to overcome the fear that paralyzed him.

Thinking back to the events of that fateful day 5 years Jyou couldn't help but grimace at how he had failed to make any sort of positive impact in keeping the group together, but rather had let his frustration with his own inaction lead him to lash out at Koushiro for "not caring enough" whatever that meant. The memories of that day came flooding back to him as he remembered how he felt watching Mimi walk away…

* * *

_Jyou watched helplessly as Mimi ran from the park ignoring his cries to stay. He knew that he should chase after or do something to that extent, but he found himself rooted to where he stood. He could not bring his feet to move because he was afraid of what might happen if he actually caught up to Mimi. What would he say to her? How would she respond?_

_The overwhelming number of possibilities scared Jyou so he took the safe route, which was doing nothing. He just stood there watching Mimi run until she finally disappeared from view all the while cursing himself for not being able to be more proactive. He was faintly aware of the screaming match going on between Yamato and Sora at the moment, but one thing attracted his attention more than anything at the moment._

_Koushiro had been entirely silent during this whole passage of time and when Jyou looked at his friend he saw that he had a very bored expression on his face as if the dissolution of these extremely valuable friendships was just another event of everyday life. The more he thought about it the more he became irked by it._

_The best thing that had ever happened in all of their personal lives was falling apart right in in front of his eyes and he was bored by it. Jyou found this to be incredibly offensive. Here he was kicking himself for not being able to do more to try to stop their group from unraveling and Koushiro was merely watching it happen bored. It was downright offensive in his opinion._

"_What the hell is wrong with you?!"_

_Koushiro seemed startled and taken aback by Jyou's sudden outburst towards him, which was understandable because Jyou was generally more reserved. However, Jyou just couldn't hold in his anger any longer and in Koushiro he had found a perfect target to unleash it on. Koushiro's seeming disinterest in the whole situation genuinely irked Jyou and he was going to let Koushiro know it._

"_How can you just stand there so disinterested while all of this is going on? How can you not care about what's happening?!" Jyou screamed growing more and more angry by the second._

"_Because it makes sense. None of these problems are new. Now that we don't have the Digital World keeping us together it makes sense that this would happen. It was inevitable if you ask me." Koushiro replied plainly as if he were merely talking about the weather or something mundane._

"_So what you're saying is that our friendship meant nothing to you?! We just pretended to be friends because we were Chosen?! Some friend you are! As soon as things go bad you shut down and try to logic it away! Screw you." Jyou shouted feeling his rage rise higher than he ever thought possible. _

_Koushiro merely stared back at him unblinkingly seemingly having deemed Jyou's rant unworthy of a response, which only served to anger Jyou more. Jyou knew at this point whatever words he might have left to say would be wasted on Koushiro so he just shoved past him and left the park. He sincerely hoped, yet doubted, that maybe cooler heads would prevail amongst the Chosen in the coming days and this whole dust up would be forgotten._

* * *

"Jyou! Jyou! Helloooooo!"

Jyou was brought back to reality by the incessant yelling of his name by a familiar voice. He hadn't realized just how much he had spaced out while thinking about the events of 5 years ago. Now his mind was racing to re-establish what he had been doing before he had gotten lost in thought.

"Why's he just standing there, not moving?" A second familiar voice chimed in.

"Don't know. Maybe he's dead?" The first voice responded.

"Oh! Maybe he's a narcoleptic! I remember my mom wrote an article on that. Like they'll fall asleep anywhere anytime." The second voice replied.

"Nah my money's on dead."

"Should I poke him to find out?"

Jyou cleared his throat having decided to cut off the conversation going on behind him at this point. They were talking about him after all, so he had a right to know just who it was. Also, he needed to get rid of them as soon as possible so he could get back to the studying he had put off way too long while he was on what was supposed to be a very short break.

Turning around he was stunned to see Taichi and Takeru standing there with huge grins on their faces. He instantly knew something was up because there was no way that they would be seeking him out at the library of all places after 5 years of no communication. Whatever it was it definitely did not bode well for him getting back to his studying soon.

"Hiya Jyou!" Taichi chirped way too cheerily for Jyou's liking.

"Taichi, Takeru, this is surprising...to say the least." Jyou greeted tentatively.

"Well we come bearing good news! Don't we Takeru?" Taichi stated jubilantly with that signature grin of his still plastered across his face.

"Yep! We're getting the band back together!" Takeru answered with a joyous smile on hsi face that for some reason seemed much less worrisome than Taichi's.

"By band you mean the Chosen?"

Takeru and Taichi both nodded in confirmation.

"May I ask why? I doubt it's 'just for the hell of it.'"

"Absolutely! Takeru, why don't you give him your spiel about gennai and why we have to go back etc etc?"

"It all started yesterday afternoon when I ran into Gennai, in this world, and he said that there was something evil threatening the Digital World and we need to get there ASAP. So with that in mind I've been going around informing everyone of this and getting them on board to go back." Takeru explained with an ever growing smile on his face, it was seriously amazing how it could keep getting bigger.

"So you in?" Taichi asked the question that all of them knew was coming.

"I can't. I have way too much studying to do to deal with the Digital World. In fact I shouldn't even be talking to you guys right now, I really need to get back to work." Jyou explained calmly as he walked past the duo and back to the table with his study materials.

As he sat down he heard two loud groans coming from Taichi and Takeru who were seemingly expecting for him to readily agree to their plan. It wasn't as if he didn't care about the Digital World, he just had priorities.

"You're joking right?" Taichi asked hopefully.

"No Taichi," Jyou started exasperatedly, "I have too many things in this world to be worrying about to even consider worrying about any other world at this point. Besides there's 11 of you, I'm sure you can manage fine without me. Now if you'll excuse me I need to study."

"Come on Jyou! Don't you remember that our world is connected with the digital world? Whatever happens there affects our world, you know that as well I do." Takeru argued passionately trying to sway Jyou's opinion.

"I get that Takeru, but what I don't understand is why it's so important that I help. There's 11 of you, that should be more than enough to deal with whatever problem the Digital World is facing without my help." Jyou rebutted.

"Jyou being a Chosen is not just something that you can drop because you're 'busy'! All of us have a commitment to not just the Digital World, but to our partners too! Do you even care what happens to Gomamon?!" Taichi yelled.

"Of course I do! But I have to consider my future here on Earth! Am I supposed to just up and drop everything in my life so I can go save some world no one knows exists?!" Jyou reasoned trying to make Taichi and Takeru see his point.

"This is hopeless!" Taichi groaned.

Jyou merely rolled his eyes at this and tried to return his focus to his work hoping that maybe ignoring them would get Taichi and Takeru just to leave him alone. He really felt that he couldn't afford to waste anymore time not studying. Failing organic chemistry, or even getting below a B, would be disastrous for his GPA and would result in his greatest fears being realized.

"It's time for plan B." Taichi suddenly announced authoritatively.

"Plan B?" Takeru questioned obviously having not been clued in on whatever Taichi's so called "Plan B" entailed.

Out of the corner of his eye Jyou saw Taichi pull out a cell phone, which suddenly got his attention. He pondered who in the world Taichi could possibly contact that would suddenly convince to drop everything and join up in this seemingly frivolous venture. Nobody really leapt to mind, as Jyou generally kept to himself nowadays.

"Hey it's me." Jyou heard Taichi begin talking to whoever represented his ace in the hole for this situation. "Jyou's being uncooperative. Can you just talk to him?"

Taichi listened to whoever was on the other end for a few moments before shoving the phone at Jyou with a wicked grin that seemed to say "I've got you now." Jyou gulped before taking the phone from the former leader. Putting the phone up to his ear he was greeted by a sickeningly familiar voice. He knew that he would be complying as soon as he heard her speak.

"Hi Jyou!" Mimi's buoyant voice came in through the phone's speaker.

"Hi Mimi." Jyou said trying to keep his voice as even as possible. Mimi had always scared him a bit and he had never been able to really stand up to her apart from when he went off after Yamato during their fight with the Dark Masters.

"Taichi tells me you're being difficult about joining back up with the group and heading to the Digital World?" Mimi stated more than questioned much like a parent speaking to a child they just caught doing something wrong.

"Well it's just…" He trailed off unsure of how to put his reasoning in a way that Mimi would accept.

"Just what?" Mimi prodded.

"I have lots of stuff for school to do and I can't just disappear for who knows how long to save a world no one has ever heard of. You understand right?" Jyou pleaded his case with Mimi.

Mimi was silent for a moment, which gave Jyou hope that she would side with him.

"So you're going to let some evil thing potentially kill an entire world of living beings, including your best friend Gomamon because you have school work? Seems legit." Mimi replied sarcastically.

"But this is really important!" Jyou argued desperately.

"Alright Jyou. You go ahead and be responsible for genocide while you go study. And when that evil shows up in our world how much good is your studying going to do then?" Mimi prodded.

"It's not like that!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night big guy. Just know that you're letting me, the rest of the Chosen, Gomamon, and the whole Digital World down."

Jyou knew he was beaten now. He had no reply to Mimi's arguments. They made complete sense. Also, he knew it was a real possibility that if he continued to refuse her that Mimi would find him and physically drag him to the Digital World. Sighing he knew what he had to do now to avoid the embarrassment of being forcibly taken to the Digital World.

"Fine Mimi. I'll go, but I need to spend every moment up until we leave studying." Jyou informed resignedly.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you Jyou! I knew we could count on you!" Mimi cheered excitedly and Jyou couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

He wished her goodbye and handed the phone back to Taichi whose grin had taken on a smugly satisfied nature.

"So you're in?" Taichi questioned seeking confirmation of what he probably already assumed to be the case.

"Yes I'm in, but I really need to get back to studying so if you'll excuse me…" Jyou motioned to the set up in front of him.

"Understood." Takeru replied before heading walking out with Taichi, "Thanks so much Jyou! We'll text you where and when we're meeting up!" Takeru called back over his shoulder.

As Jyou watched the two laughing and high fiving each other walking away he couldn't help but think that maybe going back to the Digital World with the Chosen might not be so bad after all. It might actually be fun. He was amazed that he had been so afraid of failing his father that he had never considered that maybe he had been failing himself by ostracizing himself from the others.

There was one thing he was certain of: he was happy to know that his friends were back in his life and he intended for it to stay that way for as long as possible.

* * *

Please review, flame, complain, or post spam! Also, just FYI next chapter is Sora (AKA the last chapter before Yamato and Hikari) so get excited for that! I'll try to have it out as soon as possible, hopefully by next weekend, but we shall see.


	10. Looking for Love

A/N: Apologies for the delay and the blandness.

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon

* * *

_Maybe there's a God above_

_But, all I've ever learned from love_

_Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya._

_And it's not a cry, that you hear at night_

_It's not somebody, who's seen the light_

_It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah_

_Jeff Buckley- "Hallelujah"_

Takeru felt as if his lungs were going to explode at any moment. That was if his heart didn't give out first though. As he weaved in and out of the crowds milling along the sidewalk he was seriously questioning his sanity for going along with this clearly insane idea of Taichi's. He guessed maybe the brutal late afternoon sun had fried his brain.

"Remind me again why are we running?!" Takeru called out in between deep breaths as he tried to keep up with Taichi.

"You said it yourself that we have no time to waste so we can't waste time walking around trying to find everyone!" Taichi called back over his shoulder sounding annoyingly chipper. "Besides you're an athlete aren't you?!"

Takeru could only groan in response while cursing himself for believing Taichi when he said that they were only going to have to run a short distance to reach whoever Taichi was trying to reach. He really should've known that Taichi's idea of a "short distance" was extremely warped by his soccer obsessed mind.

"Where are we even going Taichi?"

Takeru had been trying to get this info from Taichi ever since they had left Jyou at the library, but the former leader had refused to answer thus far. His general response had been some variation of "you'll see when we get there," which was starting to get under Takeru's skin just a bit. Knowing Taichi it was definitely intentional, he seemed to take sadistic pleasure in torturing Takeru by withholding knowledge.

"All in due time my dear Takeru." Taichi answered sweetly without breaking pace.

Takeru groaned again even louder this time. His legs were starting to feel like cement blocks and the sun beating down on him from above was not helping matters at all. If he could ever catch up to Taichi he was going to kill him. That was a big if, however, because at the moment he wasn't certain that anything beyond inertia was keeping him from collapsing and taking a nap right in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Stop with the groaning Takeru! How are you going to save the Digital World if you can't even keep up with me?" Taichi scolded while running in place and beckoning Takeru to catch up.

"How can I save the DIgital World if you run me to death before I get there?" Takeru grumbled under his breath.

He noticed now that he and Taichi were drawing many stares and arched eyebrows from the crowds milling through Odaiba. It was a typically busy summer Saturday in the district as people from all over Tokyo flocked to Odaiba to enjoy the various forms of outdoor entertainment it had to offer.

The fact that it was a beautifully sunny day with nary a cloud in the sky only enhanced the temptation for crowds to come enjoy the various attractions that Odaiba had to offer. Takeru sincerely doubted though that two tennagers sprinting through the streets, continously weaving in and out of crowds, was part of many people's plans. The presence of these crowds forced him to constantly offer hurried apologies for bumping into people while trying to keep pace with Taichi.

Takeru slowed his pace a bit as he reached Taichi and tried to recover as much breath as he could before Taichi took off at a gallop again. He noted with some annoyance that Taichi conveniently happened to be wearing a black athletic t-shirt along with khaki shorts and sneakers, thus making him more than appropriately dressed for this kind of strenuous physical activity.

"Take a picture it'll last longer." Taichi cracked while winking at Takeru having noticed that Takeru had been staring at him for longer than was socially acceptable.

"Har har. I couldn't help but notice that you just so happened to be dressed perfectly for something like running on a burning hot day like today, so it's awfully convenient that you'd want to run."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Taichi retorted.

"I'm just saying it's awfully convenient that now of all times you seem to be in a hurry. It's almost as if there's something, or rather someone, that you're dying to see." Takeru mused while grinning like a cheshire cat.

Taichi's eye twitched as he stared at Takeru in disbelief for a second causing the younger boy to laugh at how he must have obviously hit a nerve. Takeru loved seeing Taichi squirm like this because it was such a departure from his usually self-assured disposition. Takeru decided after a moment that in retribution for having made him run so far he was going to really torture Taichi.

"Judging from your reaction it seems as though my theory has some weight to it. However, I do know the old saying about assuming so I think I should try and tease this out a bit more." Takeru started while still wearing a huge grin with mirth dancing in his blue eyes.

"Takeru I'm gonna-"

"Would by any chance the reason you're in such a rush have anything to do with a certain girl?" Takeru asked acting as if Taichi had not spoken.

Taichi's face continued to grow redder from a mixture of anger and embarrassment as he listened to Takeru expertly suss out his motivations.

"I'll take your silence and rather red face as a 'yes'. While we're on the topic of the color red, would this fair maiden, that has you so gloriously riled up, by any chance have red hair?" Takeru continued his line of questioning with Taichi circling him much like a shark circling its prey before going in for the kill.

"Shut up Takeru!" Taichi grunted while reaching out to in an attempt stop the younger boy from circling him.

Takeru merely laughed and dodged all the while taking great pleasure in how much he was managing to get under Taichi's skin. He now saw why Yamato had always taken great pleasure in finding new and innovative ways to annoy the former leader. Taichi's fiery and direct temperament led to him walking into every single trap that Takeru laid out for him.

"Now I believe that I am ready to close this investigation into your strange behavior, though I believe that I should verify the conclusion that I have reached with you otherwise I may very well end up with egg on my face." Takeru started dramatically now having adopted a serious disposition as though he was about to make a major revelation.

Pointing theatrically at Taichi while grinning victoriously Takeru declared, "J'accuse- the reason you have had me run half to death through the hot and sweaty summer streets of Odaiba this afternoon is because you cannot wait to see the love of your life Sora Takenouchi!"

"Are you done?" Taichi asked exasperatedly.

"What? No applause? No 'great job Takeru!'? God nobody appreciates real genius anymore!" Takeru complained causing Taichi to facepalm. "Although, maybe I will go down as a great individual who was far too transcendent to be appreciated by the plebeians of his time. Yes! That's it! One day you'll see how amazing I am."

"Yes of wonderful master Takeru how dumb must I be to have not recognized your true genius by now." Taichi started sarcastically. "Now if you're done with...whatever that was...can we get back to the task at hand, also known as saving the Digital World."

"Fine. Let's go." Takeru answered in montone as he shuffled slowly behind Taichi towards wherever the former leader seemed to think Sora would be, while still worrying that Taichi likely had no idea where she actually happened to be at this very moment and instead was leading him on a aimless march through Odaiba.

* * *

The pop of the ball hitting the strings of the racket, the squeaking of rubber sneakers on the asphalt, and the whoosh of the wind rushing past her as she ran to return the ball all melded to form a exquisite melody in Sora Takenouchi's mind. This melody was in her opinion the most beautiful music that could ever be made. Forget grand orchestras, she would take the simple sounds of a tennis court any day.

The Ariake Tennis Park had become a bit of a sanctuary to Sora in recent years because if there was one thing that she could count on nowadays to keep her mind out of dark places she did not want it to wander to, it was most definitely tennis. Tennis was not only her favorite extracurricular activity it also served as her favorite form of therapy. Throughout her life she had always struggled with keeping things in and struggling to express her feelings and emotions in words and actions.

In tennis Sora found a way to deal with her emotions by using them as a tool to drive her beyond whatever physical limits she might usually have. She often found this to be extremely useful when she found herself tiring late in matches, as she would use the frustration, the anger, the self-doubt, and the crushing guilt that constantly dogged her off the court as energy to keep fighting against her opponent.

Most psychologists would probably view this as unhealthy and accuse her of merely using tennis as a way to hide from her issues, and her mother had accused her of this in so many words, but Sora honestly found that she had no other choice. Ever since the events of five years ago she had been extremely reticent to let anyone get close to her, lest they hurt her the way her former friends had.

This attitude led to Sora having many very superficial relationships with people that mostly consisted of exchanging pleasantries and/or discussing schoolwork in an official capacity. Sure she was friendly with her teammates on the tennis team, but even then their relationship really didn't extend to anything beyond official team activities.

"Ready Sora?"

Sora's focus was instantly returned to the court as her teammate Minori was about ready to serve to resume their practice match. Sora had lost track of the score during her musings and considered herself lucky that this lapse of concentration only occurred during a practice match rather than the real thing. Wiping her brow with her wristband Sora told Minori she was ready and the two of them resumed their practice match.

After a few long rallies an out of breath and drenched Sora won the set and subsequently collapsed into her chair on the side of the court. Taking a long swig of water and rubbing her face with her towel Sora began to reflect, as she had many times before, on how things went so wrong five years ago. Thinking back Sora guessed that she should have seen the warning signs, as splits like these did not occur spur of the moment, however her sole focus had been on the increasing tension between her and her boyfriend at the time Yamato.

It was odd to think about now given their long separation and ugly break up, but at one time Sora had been head over heels in love with Yamato. However, in retrospect it was clear to see that their relationship had been headed in a bad direction prior to their final break up. The only thing seemingly keeping them together was ironically enough the same thing that drove them apart: their mutual tendency to keep their real feelings bottled up and shut others out emotionally.

Sora remembered that the true end of her relationship with Yamato came shortly after his seemingly unprovoked assault on Taichi. She honestly would never be able to expunge what happened in the moments immediately following that punch from her mind…

* * *

_Sora's eyes were burning with tears as she knew what she had just said to Yamato was essentially the final nail in the coffin for their relationship. She was appalled at his violent actions towards Taichi and extremely troubled by the way in which the typically fiery Taichi had meekly taken the punch and skulked away without so much as a word of protest._

_Adding to her alarm was the lack of remorse that the typically cool headed Yamato was displaying. Sora was deeply disturbed that her boyfriend showed no signs of guilt about his actions towards his best friend. Even when she had confronted him just moments ago about his actions he had a look of righteous indignation plastered on his face and seemed incredulous that she was not on his side._

"_Yamato it doesn't matter what he said! Punching your best friend is not acceptable no matter what he said!"_

"_Sora you don't understand! If you had heard what he said you would've been punching him yourself! God why is it so hard to get that I wouldn't punch that jerk for no reason?!"_

"_Yamato listen to yourself! How can you even say that about your best friend in the entire world?! There's nothing he could have said that would justify a response like that! You need to go after him and apologize before this really gets out of hand. Be the bigger man."_

"_Never. He deserves no apology from anyone. In fact, he should be the one apologizing! He stuck his nose where it didn't belong and got his just desserts. End of story. Maybe if I just tell you what he said then maybe you'll be able to see things my way."_

"_Yamato I already told you what he said doesn't matter."_

_Sora watched anxiously as Yamato took a shaky breath seemingly in an effort to collect himself before reiterating whatever Taichi had said to set him off this badly. If she had to guess it was definitely something personal that played off insecurities that only Taichi would know to exploit. She could only hope that whatever was setting Yamato off this badly was something that she could rationalize away._

"_He said that I...don't deserve you...and that he does instead." Yamato spat the last part out as if it were some foul tasting piece of food that he had accidentally eaten._

_Sora was speechless. She felt was if she had just been cast out to sea and was struggling for air. It just didn't seem real that Taichi would say something so foul, so petty, so out of character for him. She was confused as to what exactly the implications of his words were exactly. Did he mean that he wanted to be dating her? If true then Taichi had feelings for her, which just added to the overall confusion of the situation._

_As Sora swirled these thoughts around in her head the prevailing emotion that emerged was anger. She was angry that both Taichi and Yamato thought of her as almost a piece of property with no free will. Didn't Yamato understand that she had chosen him of her own free will? Didn't Taichi understand that he had no right to be the arbiter of who deserved to be dating her?_

_Gathering her thoughts Sora finally met Yamato's expectant eyes that were waiting for a reply to the information he had just given to her. Sora rubbed her temples in frustration and anxiousness as she was about to give Yamato a reply he would not be expected and would certainly not be happy with._

"_It's amazing how both of you can be so god damn wrongheaded. Taichi has no right to be telling anyone anything about my romantic life. That he did shows how little regard he has for my right to have a choice. But the way you acted ironically proved him exactly right. I'm not sure I want to be with someone who treats their supposed best friend that way."_

"_So that's it Sora? We're over?"_

_It really hadn't fully clicked for Sora that she was ending her relationship with Yamato until he had reiterated her own stated intentions back to her. The choice ahead of Sora seemed crystal clear to her in this moment. She either could stay in a slowly dying relationship for a few more weeks or achieve a clean break right here and now._

"_Yes. I just can't stand to even be around you right now. Goodbye Yamato."_

_With those words Sora knew that she had definitely turned the page on this particular chapter in her life and would be heading into a scary uncertain future. As she walked past a stunned Yamato and out of the park she began to cry anew for what she had lost just now. The best part of her life to date was definitively over and she knew whatever was to follow would never be able to measure up._

* * *

A gentle nudge from a curiously smirking Minori snapped Sora out of her day dream about the past. Sora was befuddled as to why her teammate was suddenly smirking at her and wondered if something embarrassing had happened during her daydream. Minori seemed to pick up on her confusion and began to laugh, which left Sora only more confused.

"What's so funny?" Sora snapped a little more defensively than she had intended.

"Oh Sora you are. You're so oblivious sometimes, but damn I wish I had your luck." Minori giggled.

"What are in the world are you talking about? What's going on?"

"There's two guys who said they're here to see you. They're over by the locker room and if I do say so myself they are easy on the eyes, especially the blonde one." Minori said while sighing dramatically.

Upon mention of a blonde here to see her Sora's heart began to race and she felt as if her heart was going to begin beating out of her chest. She knew it had to be Yamato because what other blonde did she know that would come seeking her out. Sora's mind began to scramble to try to figure out a potential reason why after all this time Yamato would randomly seek her out.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Sora thanked Minori for the information and started making her way over to the locker room where Yamato and god knows who else were supposedly waiting for her. As she walked her stomach was flipping over as her unease at the situation increased. Sora really had no idea what she was going to say to him and how she felt about him coming to see her after all this time.

Nearing the locker room Sora spotted the two guys that Minori had said were asking about her and her heart suddenly began to beat more erractically as she immediately identified one of them as Taichi. She had not spoken to him since she had found out through Yamato that he was in love with her. Sora had been very careful to try to avoid him during school and for his part Taichi never sought her out, but here he was now. This whole situation was truly giving her a massive migraine.

As luck would have it Taichi seemed to spot Sora just that moment and he broke away from his conversation the blonde with who she presumed to be Yamato and started waving her overwhile smiling like a madman. Sora could only weakly wave back in confusion as she had no idea why Taichi would suddenly be acting like this after all these years and why in the world would he and Yamato would be together after the way they had left things

Sora picked up her pace and closed the distance between her and the duo quickly, but was stopped in her tracks when she finally saw that Taichi's blonde companion was not Yamato, but rather was Takeru. This new revelation made her reel with a whole new mix of emotions and questions. She felt a mixture of shock (that Takeru of all people would be seeking her out), disappointment (that it wasn't Yamato), and relief (that she didn't have to deal with Yamato).

"Sora we have something really really important that we need to talk to you about. It's about the digital world." Taichi said answering her unspoken question having seemingly picked up on the confused expression on her face.

"Wh-what?" Sora asked stumbling over her words in an attempt to verbalize the millions of questions running through her mind.

"The digital world is in trouble and we have to go back." Takeru answered with a grave expression that made him look eerily similar to Yamato. "Gennai came to me yesterday and told me that we're needed again. I've been been spending pretty much all my time since then tracking everyone down and giving them the news. As soon as we're all back together we'll need to find a way to get back there. Actually Koushiro is already working on it now, but either way we still need to find a way to get back there as soon as possible."

Sora let Takeru's ominous words sink in as her mind worked overtime to try to process this massive amount of new information. How were they possibly going to be able to make it back to the digital world? Would they even be able to function as a team after all this time and what had happened between them? More importantly did she really want to? These people who she used to adore had been the source of much pain over the last few years.

"Sora?" Taichi prompted breaking Sora out of her thoughts looking at her expectantly seemingly looking for a response.

Meeting his brown eyes Sora saw the intensity and passion burning in them, they were virtually imploring her to say "Yes." However, the memories of his actions from five years ago and the consequences, intended or not, that they had wrought were blocking her from giving him the answer that he wanted. So instead of giving him the answer that he wanted, and the one that she so badly wanted to give him, she instead averted her eyes towards the ground and merely said that she didn't know.

She heard him groan in frustration at her noncommittal reply and felt even worse. She felt weak for not being able to get over the past, but she felt that there were some things that you just couldn't bury in the past. Some actions that weren't meant to be forgiven and Taichi's selfishness in saying that he was the only one who deserved her affection was something that she just couldn't easily forgive.

Suddenly Sora gasped as she felt her hands being taken in another strong pair. Looking up she expected to see Taichi, but was shocked to see Takeru holding her hands with his piercing blue eyes boring into her soul making her suddenly feel so exposed. She was at a loss for words as she just continued to stare into his eyes that were filled with a sort of undeniable hope and desperation.

"Sora please." Takeru pleaded his voice laced with desperation and a hint of hope. "I don't know specifically what happened with you, Taichi, and my brother, but please just say yes. Say yes for me. This doesn't mean that you need to forgive them. No matter what we just need you with us in the digital world. You've always been like a mother to the group and I'm afraid that without you we'd all fall apart to infighting or something worse."

Sora was transfixed merely staring into Takeru's cerulean eyes unable to move or respond as he delivered his plea. As he spoke the outside world melted and all that existed was the two of them. It was an eerily familiar feeling to what she had experienced in the past with Yamato, when he had a particular point he was trying to get across to her.

"Wow...ok...yes. Yes." Sora found herself babbling unable to string together complete sentences. She was so entranced that her mind didn't register that she had answered until she did. Nonetheless it was an answer she wanted to give especially since, as Takeru pointed out, it didn't constitute forgiveness for Taichi and Yamato.

"Yes?!" Takeru's eyes lit up with glee and he suddenly looked much more like the cute 8 year old boy she had first met 9 years ago. Sora suddenly found herself being enveloped in a crushing hug from the blonde and offered Taichi, who was watching the whole situation unfold with a bemused look on his face, a sheepish grin.

Sora found it funny, as Takeru began to whirl her around like a rag doll, that it suddenly seemed as though tennis would no longer be the only good thing in her life, and she could honestly say that she couldn't be happier.

* * *

Yamato is next. Please review.


	11. Friendship's Failure

A/N: Sorry if I made Yamato seem a bit too nihilistic in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon

* * *

_Oh brother I can't, I can't get through_

_I've been trying hard to reach you, cause I don't know what to do_

_Oh brother I can't believe it's true_

_I'm so scared about the future and I wanna talk to you_

_Oh I wanna talk to you_

_Coldplay- "Talk"_

"Yes?!" Takeru yelled excitedly before enveloping Sora in a crushing hug and whirling her around like a rag doll.

Taichi watched the scene before him with a bemused grin on his face doing his best to give the impression that he was happy and that all was well. He knew that he was supposed to be thrilled that Sora, the love of his life, would be rejoining the team, but he was extremely conflicted. Sora had made it very clear that, without necessarily saying it, she was reuniting with the rest of the Chosen _despite _him, and not because of him.

He knew that it was selfish to think this way and wished that he could think more positively, but it was to no avail. He was seriously unnerved by her rejection. Even after all this time she still had yet to forgive him for what he had done. He knew now that he was a fool to even think that she would show mercy and forgive him, when what he deserved was to be shunned.

Over the past 5 years Taichi had given up on the pipe dream of being with Sora romantically and had accepted that the best case scenario would be to repair the friendship they once had, however this too had seemingly proved to be too lofty a goal to achieve. Taichi realized now that he would have to settle for the hope that one day he could at least come to have an amiable if slightly awkward relationship with Sora akin to those shared by co-workers.

The mere thought of being only a "co-worker" to Sora made him shudder. Despite this Taichi was still resolved to follow through on his promise to take this second chance that fate had granted him and do everything in his power to make things as close to right as possible with Sora. It was the very least he could do to atone for his grievous mistakes of 5 years ago. By treating Sora as an object rather than a full person with free choice he lost any right he might have had to forgiveness.

Continuing to watch Sora and Takeru, who were now filling each other in on their lives over the past 5 years to each other, Taichi was extremely thankful for Takeru's intervention. He wasn't sure if Takeru fully meant everything or was partially saying it on his behalf, but either way he knew if it weren't for the younger boy's quick thinking Sora would not have joined up with them.

Taichi guessed that it sort of validated his old theory that Sora had a soft spot for Takeru after acting as a mother like figure to him during their first adventure in the digital world. Once Takeru played the dependence card Sora's resistance completely crumbled as her maternal instinct overrode any sort of logical objections she may still have had. Taichi had always admired that less rational more emotionally driven side of Sora and figured that it was one of the many reasons he had fallen in love with her.

Shaking his head Taichi silently chastised himself, knowing that he had to stop thinking that way about her. It wasn't that he was going to stop loving her, he wasn't stupid enough to think that was possible, rather he just needed to stop thinking about her in _that_ way. It was unhealthy and ultimately would only cause him more pain in the long run.

Seeking to focus on anything else to take his mind off his unrequited feelings for Sora, Taichi began to scrutinize Takeru and found something that was simultaneously shocking and blatantly obvious: Takeru was nowhere near as happy as he was pretending to be. This overjoyed excited schoolgirl like reaction was a huge facade to hide his true feelings.

Taichi could see it in his eyes and hands, they were dead giveaways.. Those usually joyful blue eyes were full of dread and apprehension of what was still to come. Additionally Takeru's hands, which he was trying to hide ever so carefully, were shaking further cementing Taichi's suspicions that he was frightened out of his mind about what was to come: namely having to confront Yamato and Hikari.

Taichi's heart went out to Takeru as he could truly empathize with him, on the Yamato front at least, given that the older blonde could be incredibly cold and abrasive at times. However, in Taichi's experience he had never seen Yamato act that way towards his younger brother, if anything he was a different person when he was with Takeru. This lead to Taichi to surmise that something really awful had to have happened to lead to the two of them being estranged for 5 years.

Deciding that he had to take action so that Takeru wouldn't try to hide from the issue indefinitely Taichi grabbed the chatting duo's attention and swallowed hard before setting out on the unenviable task of pointing out the elephant in the room. This was most definitely not going to put him in any better stead with Sora, but it was something that needed to be said no matter how little anyone wanted to hear it.

"Takeru drop the act." Taichi said in a stern tone that brooked no argument. "I know you're scared. Scared about seeing Yamato. Scared about seeing Hikari. Scared that they might reject you. I get it and I feel for you, but this is something you have to do. You have me and Sora here for support and we'll be here with you all the way. You don't have to pretend anymore."

Takeru's expression dramatically darkened and his entire body began to shake as Taichi's words were processed. Taichi felt extremely guilty as he observed this, but knew he was doing the right thing so he chose to persevere. Takeru needed to hear what he had to say and in the long term he would be thankful that Taichi had confronted him, at least that was the hope.

"Taichi's right." Sora interjected drawing shocked looks from both Takeru and Taichi. "You need to see your brother and Hikari. Frankly I'm a little shocked that you haven't already. They are so important to you and you are so important to them. They need you Takeru, so don't be selfish. Just remember that you are not alone, ok?"

Putting his hand on the younger boy's shoulder Taichi said, "C'mon let's go we have work to do."

However, as he started to try to start to get Takeru walking with him Taichi was shocked to find that he wouldn't budge, instead he kept staring at the ground in an attempt to hide his face from Taichi and Sora.

"What the hell Takeru?! Let's go already!" Taichi snapped feeling himself becoming increasingly annoyed with Takeru's stubbornness.

Finally Takeru raised his head to look Taichi dead on and what Taichi saw made his heart break in a million pieces for the younger boy. Tears were freely flowing and his blue eyes showed an alarming mix of abject fear and unwavering resolve. Whatever Takeru was about to do scared him to death, yet he was not going to let anyone or anything stand in his way. Taichi could only hope that it didn't result in him hurting himself or anyone else.

"Both of you listen." Takeru said his voice shaking with emotion. "There is no 'we'. There is no 'us'. This is my burden to bear. This is my problem to fix."

With that Takeru stormed off past Taichi ostensibly in whatever direction he thought and/or knew Yamato was in. Sora's cries for him to wait and stay fell on deaf ears as did her pleas for Taichi to go after him. Taichi knew that Takeru was too far gone to argue or reason with. He had obviously made up his mind on this matter a long time ago and was not about to change it. Taichi could only pray that Takeru had made the right choice and that he would be able to sort things out with Yamato and Hikari.

* * *

As he walked towards the concert hall where he knew Yamato was scheduled to perform later on this evening Takeru was certain of one thing: he had never been this scared in his entire life. With every step he took he needed every ounce of courage he had in him not to turn tail and run. He hated feeling this way. It was so messed up. There was no person in the world he admired more than Yamato and yet here was shaking with fear at the mere prospect of seeing him.

He desperately wanted everything to return to normal between Yamato and himself, but he had his doubts that it was even in the realm of possibility. Over the last 5 years to try to numb the pain of missing his brother Takeru had not even dared to hope because nothing in the world hurt worse than the realization of that what he hoped for so fervently would never come to pass.

After he had stormed off, leaving a stunned Taichi and Sora in his wake, the world seemed to shrink to eliminate all existence apart from him, his path, and his goal. It was as if he were walking through an abyss that contained only him and his worst fears. He wasn't even sure if he was crying anymore he had become so numb to the world. He guessed this might have been what it felt like when Yamato and Sora were trapped in that cave during their battle against the Dark Masters.

In truth this was the lowest he had felt since that day 5 years ago and the worst part was unlike then he had no logical reason to feel that way. Over the last 2 days he had received his crest again, found out that he and Patamon would be reunited soon, and had reconciled with 9 of his closest friends.

Any reasonable person would be happy in his situation yet he had to be the one coward who was deathly afraid of seeing his big brother who he had for so long idolized. Yamato had always been there for him and now it was his turn to be there for Yamato, yet he was too paralyzed by uncertainty to do anything.

In a weird sadomasochistic way Takeru was thankful for whatever the trouble in the digital world was, even if it was causing unknowable pain and suffering to the denizens of the digital world. Now he had no choice in the matter, his hand was forced by an exterior force to attempt to bury the hatchet with Yamato. While this did nothing to dispel the fear and uncertainty that he felt about seeing his brother again, but it was a push in the right direction.

For now all Takeru could do was focus on putting one foot in front of the other and hope that everything would be ok. Hope that he would find the right words to say. Hope that Yamato would forgive him. Hope that for once in his life he could have the self-confidence of Daisuke, who never seemed to doubt himself even for one second in his life. All he had left was hope.

He could live with that.

* * *

The sky this evening was truly beautiful. The array of colors that were on display were simply breathtaking. In a way it looked as if the sky was ablaze with a alluring fire that was dancing across the horizon bathing the whole world in its warm orange glow. It seemed so inviting and genuinely serene. For so many reasons this was deeply upsetting and off putting to Yamato Ishida.

Staring at the sky from the window of his dressing room Yamato longed for his life to be as simple and beautiful as the sunset. The sunset did not have to deal with the weight of expectations, instead it was roundly admired and somehow never failed to inspire awe in those who stopped to observe it. Yamato hated the sunset so damn much.

The sunset in its own diabolical way represented the sum of all his failings as a friend, as a boyfriend, as a son, and as a brother. Yamato, for all his success in music and school, would always be a failure. He failed the people most important to him in his life and there was no recovering from that.

With every passing day Yamato that thought about his failures his self loathing increased astronomically. Most days he couldn't bear to look at himself in the mirror apart from making sure to do the bare minimum to make himself look presentable to the outside world. He did not want people knowing how badly he was suffering as that might lead to pity that he most definitely did not deserve.

What the world saw of Yamato was a front, partially constructed by their own assumptions. He was the brooding front man of the hit rock group "The Teenage Wolves." It was amazing how being an artist gave him a free pass to be sullen and introspective 24/7. People always just chose to assume it was part of his persona as a rocker and Yamato never corrected them.

Over the last 5 years the band had seen unprecedented, for them at least, critical and commercial success as the public had eaten up the darker tone to their music. No one ever thought to question what the meaning behind these dark words was, seemingly content to just enjoy the music mindlessly. This just flat out annoyed Yamato, and made him feel like even more of a failure.

Nowadays he barely talked to anyone unless it was strictly necessary for professional reasons. He had truly become a misanthrope and the antithesis of what his long since departed crest said he was supposed to represent. His success had at least given him the financial ability to live alone and not deal with people he found contemptible, which included pretty much everyone he encountered on any sort of regular basis.

There was still one person in the world that Yamato desperately needed to see again, but was too afraid to face. The hurt in his eyes when Yamato had last seen him 5 years ago haunted him to this day. Every single night Yamato would find his dreams haunted by those blue eyes that were so filled with hurt, shock, and betrayal, often causing him to wake up to find that he himself had been crying.

Yamato needed his little brother again. Takeru gave him a sense of purpose in the world. From the moment their mother had brought Takeru home from the hospital Yamato had made a silent vow that he would always be his protector, his guardian, and that he would prevent any harm from coming to him. If that Yamato could see him as he was now he would be rightfully disgusted.

Yamato had so egregiously broken that vow by not only failing to protect Takeru, but also being the very cause of his pain. He had replayed the situation in his head countless times in his dreams always focusing on the look in Takeru's eyes. Yamato had never seen Takeru give him that look before and he hoped he would never see it again. The very thought of it made his stomach turn.

He had always taken such great pride in the fact that Takeru idolized him. Takeru's admiration was his most prized possession and he had never thought that he would throw it away so carelessly. It killed Yamato to think that now Takeru probably hated him and that he more than deserved it.

Picking up his guitar and bringing over to his couch Yamato began to absently strum some chords to a long forgotten song as the thought back on that fateful conversation with Takeru. He wished more than anything that he could stay his tongue and never utter those vile words that he had said to his brother…

* * *

_Watching Sora leave the park Yamato felt as if his world was falling apart at the seams. So much of his identity was staked on being a member of the select group of Chosen Children, but now that seemed as if it was going up in flames. His mind was unable to comprehend how this whole situation had spiraled out of control so quickly._

_Scanning the park he found that the only ones still left from the original group that had convened here for what was supposed to be a joyous occasion were Takeru, Hikari, and himself. Looking at the younger duo he found it strange that Takeru seemed to not be exuding negativity and worry._

_It didn't make sense to him, shouldn't Takeru have been extremely concerned about why everyone was suddenly fighting on a day they should have been celebrating? Even the usually upbeat Hikari seemed to be showing the proper amount of concern and anxiousness so why wasn't Takeru?_

_He could faintly overhear Takeru talking to Hikari most likely trying to comfort her or at least put her mind at ease. The way he saw Takeru looking at Hikari with such genuine admiration that was generally reserved for him unnerved Yamato a bit. He had known the two of them had been growing close since Takeru's return to Odaiba, but he had no idea they had gotten this close._

_This scared Yamato because it meant that Takeru would be spending more time with Hikari, which in turn meant spending more time at the Yagami's home, which meant spending more time with Taichi, which was unacceptable to him after today's events. He wanted his brother nowhere near that selfish arrogant prick that had just ruined everything. He needed to take action and soon._

"_What are you doing Takeru?" Yamato demanded as he marched over towards his brother and Hikari._

_Takeru apparently not picking up on his tone casually replied that he was just explaining to Hikari that in a few days after all the dust settled that everything would be ok. He firmly believed everyone would forgive each other and things would go back to normal._

_Yamato began to seethe at his brother's seemingly flippant comments and felt that he needed to set him straight in a major way. Things were never going to be the same and the sooner Takeru learned to accept that, the sooner that he could begin to move on with his life. He was not going to like to hear it, but it was harsh truth that he needed to hear nonetheless._

"_You're wrong!" Yamato shouted as his anger about this whole day and this whole situation began to boil over. "Nothing is ever going to be the same. Nothing! It's time you dropped this whole optimistic routine and joined the rest of us here on planet Earth. You need to open your damn eyes and see the reality that life is shit!"_

_Both Takeru and Hikari recoiled at these words, but Takeru still had the spark of defiant optimism and hope in his eyes that needed to squelched before it ended up hurting him. Yamato knew now exactly what he needed to do to drive his point home to Takeru so that he would finally understand the true nature of the world._

"_You need to stop lying to yourself Takeru! You have been lying to yourself since you were 4 years old! You keep pretending in that messed up little mind of yours that one day Mom and Dad are going to get back together and that we'll be a happy family again. That is never going to happen. Never. The sooner that you understand that the better, because otherwise you'll be living a lie. Your whole identity is a lie Takeru. It's time you grow up and embrace reality for the hell it really is."_

_The look Yamato saw in Takeru's eyes as his words sunk in broke his heart in ways that he never thought possible. His brother was looking at him with such rage and betrayal that was so foreign to the usually cheerful boy. Yamato had never seen this expression from Takeru in his entire life and knew that his resolve would waver if he stayed too much longer._

"_Think about it kiddo." Yamato called over his shoulder as he casually stalked away from Takeru and Hikari leaving them to marinate in the aftermath of what he had just said._

* * *

A persistent loud knock at his dressing room door broke Yamato out of his unpleasant trip down memory lane and he shot a glare at the door. His mind quickly clicked into gear in order to try to figure out who the hell was bothering him at this time and how best to get rid of them without opening the door.

All he wanted until the show was to be left alone with his thoughts, as was the usual protocol. He guessed based off the stubborn knocking that it was likely Akira, one of his fellow band members, whose stubborn disposition grated on Yamato's nerves, never more so than right now. Akira being the paranoid worry wart type likely wanted to do an extra early sound check to make sure that everything was all set for later on that night.

"Akira I am not in the mood to deal with your panic attacks right now, if you want to do an extra sound check so badly do it your damn self." Yamato called out making sure to convey how annoyed he was in his tone.

After waiting a beat for a response and receiving none Yamato went back to strumming the same aimless tune on his guitar that he been playing before he was so rudely interrupted. He was pleased that he had been able to brush off Akira so easily and made a mental note to take this more forward approach with him in the future.

"Yamato...it's me." A voice said from the other side of the door. A voice that he could never mistake. A voice that cut down right to his soul.

Yamato's guitar clattered to the floor as he vaulted towards the door and ripped it open before enveloping Takeru in a crushing hug. He had no idea why or how Takeru was here, but none of that mattered to him right now. All that mattered was that he had his brother back and that he was never letting him go again as long as he lived.

Without warning tears began to stream down his face and he openly wept with a mix of joy, guilt, and relief. Yamato felt Takeru's arms encircle his back as he finally returned the hug. For the first time in years Yamato finally felt whole again. He felt as if the darkness that had been suffocating his heart for the last 5 years was finally lifting now that he had Takeru back.

After what seemed like an eternity Yamato finally broke the hug and wordlessly ushered Takeru into his dressing room closing the door behind him so that they would not be interrupted or have to deal with any onlookers. Yamato decided that it would be best to skip small talk and get straight to the point with Takeru and ask the question that had been plaguing him for the last 5 years during their separation.

"Do you hate me?" Yamato asked almost fearfully. He couldn't even look Takeru in the eye as he asked the question because he was still replaying the look of hurt and betrayal from 5 years ago in his mind.

"What?" Takeru asked clearly confused and caught off guard by the question.

"Do you hate me? I'd understand if you did. You have every right to after what I said to you." Yamato responded gloomily.

"Listen, I could never ever hate you Yamato. You're my hero. You're my idol. Most importantly you're my big brother. I could never hate you even if I wanted to." Takeru said resolutely as if he were trying to dispel any doubt that Yamato might still have to the veracity of his words.

"Oh thank God." Yamato sighed feeling as though he had just shed a massive weight off his shoulders. He was truly thankful in this moment for how consistently positive his younger brother always managed to be. Yamato wasn't sure he would be able to forgive someone so easily if they had treated him the way he treated Takeru that fateful day.

"There are so many things that I want to talk to you about that have happened over the last 5 years, but there's something I need to tell you first." Takeru started uneasily piquing Yamato's curiosity. He wondered if he was going to say something like he and Hikari had eloped or something, it honestly wouldn't shock him. "You may not like hearing this, but I need you to agree to this. Can you promise that you'll at least hear me out?"

"Yes of course anything." Yamato said quickly, apparently too quickly for Takeru who seemed increasingly uneasy.

"Well it involves Taichi...and Sora…" Takeru said quietly.

"What about them?" Yamato shot back.

Takeru arched an eyebrow, apparently deriving some meaning from Yamato not using Taichi and Sora's name, before explaining the whole series of events that led him to this point, including Gennai's visit, the return of his crest, and the reunions with the rest of the Chosen. One thing that captured Yamato's attention was that there was something Takeru had left out in his recounting of the events of the past day and a half, but he filed it away for later choosing to focus on the present dilemma before him.

He did not want to be anywhere near Taichi even after all these years, but he wasn't about to let Takeru go to the Digital World without him. Yamato already knew he was going to the Digital World because Takeru was going and there was no convincing him otherwise, but dealing with Taichi was still a problem. Just the thought of the former leader made his stomach turn.

After some thinking Yamato finally found a solution that he could live with. While it was childish it still represented for him a more than fair punishment for Taichi's crime. Yamato had lost something precious because of Taichi's selfishness so he decided that Taichi had to lose something precious as well.

"I agree to come back and do my part to help defeat the evil that's attacking the Digital World. I'll even work with Taichi again too." Yamato paused allowing for Takeru to process what he just said before continuing, "There is however one non-negotiable condition that Taichi needs to agree to before I agree to work with him again"

Takeru's eyes lit up at this, seemingly overjoyed that Yamato was going to put aside his differences with Taichi and work together again. Yamato couldn't help but smile at how excited his brother was. He could never resist Takeru's smile it had always had such a positive effect on him and he was glad to have it back in his life.

"What is it?" Takeru asked excitedly. "I'm sure whatever it is Taichi will agree to it. He's so desperate to make up for his mistake that he would do anything. You have no idea how much he misses you and the relationship you guys used to have."

"Taichi needs to officially step down as leader of the Chosen. I don't care who replaces him, he just needs to not be the leader." Yamato said matter of factly while carefully gauging Takeru's reaction.

"Uh sure that should be fine." Takeru replied uncertainly.

"Good. Now there's something I wanted to ask you about." Yamato said as a devious smile spread across his face. "When you were talking about seeing everyone earlier I noticed something. You left Hikari out. So what happened? Lovers quarrel?"

Yamato was certain that he had never seen Takeru turn a brighter shade of red than he did at just the mention of him and Hikari in any sort of romantic context. Torturing Takeru with this was going to be oh so much fun.

* * *

Next chapter is Hikari and will be out eventually.


	12. Light Will Guide You Home

So this is a thing I wrote

* * *

I waited for you – And waited for you

_And made a mistake I can never undo_

_I now I look back but then I lose track_

_I spent so much time I can never get back_

_Could wait forever, but then I won't learn_

_That memories fade, no matter how much it hurts_

_And on the inside, I feel my heart cry_

_I'm tearing at the walls in the corners of my mind_

Asian Kung-Fu Generation "Re: Re:"

* * *

"You idiot!"

"What?! I did nothing wrong!"

"You call harassing Hikari 'nothing'?!"

Daisuke merely glared in response as he dipped another Friday in ketchup and bit into with all the anger he could muster. It was all he could do to not lose his temper completely with Miyako at the moment. He really did not want to get kicked out of the restaurant before he could finish eating and the four of them were already getting glares from some of the staff. All he wanted to do was eat his food in peace without being harassed or criticized for screwing up.

That had all flown out the window when he let slip that he had visited Hikari earlier in the day and Miyako completely flew off the handle. She was being so stubborn and unreasonable. So what if he visited Hikari against Takeru's wishes or Miyako's warnings? Sometimes people just needed a little outside help to get over their weird issues. If anything he felt that Miyako should be thanking him for doing what she should have done in the first place as Hikari's best female friend.

"Miyako don't you think you're being a bit hard on him?" Ken offered quietly in an obvious attempt to sooth the situation.

Daisuke couldn't help but smile across the table at Ken upon hearing this. Good old Ken coming to his aid once again. He knew he could count on Ken to have his back, especially when Miyako was in full "Daisuke is a moron" mode. He honestly had gone to see Hikari with the best of intentions, but obviously Miyako wouldn't see it that way since she obviously assumed it was all part of a ploy for him to woo her.

"Fine." Miyako huffed. "But if I even got one whiff of this being some sort of attempt for you to trick Hikari to falling in love you I will pound you into dust."

Daisuke couldn't help but double over in laughter at her threat. Even after all this time he know her way too well.

"Not to distract from what's obviously a critically important conversation," Iori said. "but aren't there more important things that we could be talking about? Like how are we going to know when everyone's back together and ready to leave? Or even how we're getting to the digital world?"

Daisuke immediately stopped laughing and began to think about it. Takeru really hadn't been terribly clear about what his plan was, if he even had one. In fact, he really had neglected to tell them anything specific he had just kind of stormed out after they brought up Hikari so they had no idea where he was at this point and if there was anything they were supposed to do. Blondie had kind of screwed them...unbelievable.

"Well in my opinion I don't think we should just sit around wait for something to happen." Ken said. "We shouldn't rely on Takeru for instructions because we have no idea where his head is at and he can even think logically at this point."

"So what do we do?" Miyako prompted apparently trying to get Ken to continue his train of thought, which was actually a pretty good idea in Daisuke's opinion.

Daisuke looked from Miyako to Ken to Iori as they all seemed to be silently thinking about the question that Miyako had just brought up. It was a such an important question, but there was no obvious answer that came to mind...so annoying. Takeru really had left them in a crappy situation, because it wasn't like they could just you know call everyone else and see what their situation was...or could they?

"Wait guys I think I've got it!"

Daisuke frowned as his exclamation was met with three skeptical looks from his friends.

"Don't look at me like that! I actually have a good idea this time, please just hear me out I know-"

"Ok just tell us already Daisuke." Ken interrupted exasperatedly.

"Well you guy's know the saying Odin's blade right?"

"Occam's Razor." Miyako corrected.

"Yeah that one! Simple is best or something like that."

"Well how does that apply here?" Iori asked.

"I was just getting there if you three would stop interrupting me...geez. So as I was saying simple is best sooo what if we just call everyone?"

Daisuke impatiently drummed his fingers on the table as he waited for his friends to respond to what he had just proposed. He was a bit nervous since he felt that it was maybe too obvious of an answer, but it seemed so right! Plus none of them were coming up with any answers so maybe just maybe he could be right for once.

"Daisuke...that's actually a really great idea...wow." Ken muttered with an awed expression on his face.

"Don't act so surprised I have good ideas sometimes!" Daisuke retorted indignantly.

"I think I still have Jyou's number so I guess I could call him, but I don't have contact info for anyone else." Iori offered.

"I definitely still have Mimi's number and I think I have Koushiro's email address stored somewhere…" Miyako added while toying with her phone.

Suddenly realizing that he should be helping out too Daisuke whipped out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts. He was almost certain that he still had Taichi's number from back when they used to play soccer together. Scrolling through his contacts he found Taichi's name and couldn't help but grin at the thought of reuniting with his mentor.

"Um so I don't really have anyone's number, but maybe if you give me Koushiro's email, Miyako, I can reach out to him while you call Mimi?" Ken asked while taking out his D-Terminal.

Suddenly their little booth in the restaurant became like a phone bank with everyone calling or emailing someone else in an effort to coordinate their return to the Digital World. Daisuke just paused to soak in the moment for a second. He was so unbelievably excited that the Chosen Children were finally getting back together. Everything was going to be back to normal from now on. Nothing and no one would stand in the way of the happiness he was seeking now.

* * *

She could hardly believe her eyes when the text came through. She had long since deleted the contact, but she had dialed the number so often as a kid that she would recognize it anywhere. She guessed that she shouldn't have been surprised given that he had just been here the night before, but still...after all this time...the silence had been broken.

She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss him some days, most days really, but she had put so much effort into banishing those thoughts and feelings that she had come to feel a comfortable numbness when he inevitably popped into her thoughts or when she saw him in school. These were necessary measures in order to guarantee that they would be able to move towards the future without the past weighing them down.

There was just so much baggage that came with being who they were and what they had gone through in their childhood. In a way those things had begun to define them and that really wasn't fair to anybody. How could you boil a person down to something as vague and nebulous as Light? People were far more complicated than that, but they as a group had somewhat fallen into that trap. They stuck together because...what? They were Chosen Children? Was that a good enough reason in the real world?

In retrospect she should've been hardly surprised when the group quickly splintered following the permanent end of their time in the digital world. Even her friendship with Takeru was built on a false foundation of being the most veteran of Chosen Children. She was obviously thankful for what he had done for her, but did that mean they were destined to be best friends forever? She didn't think so.

She saw in his eyes that he disagreed with this sentiment when she brought it up to him 5 years ago, but he acquiesced to her request for them to be strangers once again. It may have seemed cold to him, but she felt that she was doing him a favor. Takeru was really a great guy and would be fine in the long run once he came to see the truth.

For the last 5 years it seemed as though he had realized the truth that she had tried to get across to him. He was a regular for the basketball team, constantly was near the top of the class, and seemed fairly popular with the ladies. She could honestly say that she was happy for him. Everything worked out for the best once they shed the chains that bound them to the past.

The last 2 days, however, he kept popping back into her life. She still hadn't actually seen or talked to him directly, but he was like an omnipresent ghost that kept lingering on the margins of her life. He had even been at her home, but hadn't actually crossed the threshold. Then Daisuke showed up out of the blue basically begging her to reach out to him. And now there was this text.

Hikari knew that she should ignore it and wanted oh so badly to. If she reopened contact with Takeru after all this little time what was the point of their sacrifice from 5 years ago. However, due to all the surrounding circumstances her curiosity was getting the better of her. She genuinely wanted to know why all of a sudden she couldn't escape her former best friend.

Ultimately after a few more minutes of deliberating Hikari's resolve finally broke and she read the text.

* * *

Takeru was scared. Ever since he sent that text message he had been more scared than he ever had been in his life. There was a very real chance that if he said the wrong thing or acted the wrong way that he would never see her again. He had agreed to her proposal on that fateful day that he had more than rehashed too many times to count over the last 48 hours, which meant he had no right to expect anything of her.

He had no right to hope.

Running a hand through his hair he slouched further down on the park bench he was sitting on and stared up at the night sky to see if it held any answers to his current dilemma. He had no idea what to say. Dealing with the others had been so simple compared to this. Yes there were obstacles to overcome, but in every case there had been a mutual desire for reconciliation.

Takeru honestly wasn't sure what to say when he saw her. Wording the text was excruciating enough, but now talking to her face to face was going to be a challenge unlike any he had ever faced. He couldn't afford to fail now not just for his sake, but for the sake of the digital world too. All 12 of them were needed if they were going to deal with whatever was happening there.

At a time like this he honestly wished Tokyo wasn't so bright because maybe just maybe the stars would have the answers to his questions. Maybe if he stared long enough the answer would magically spell itself out in the constellations like a cheesy movie moment. Alas the bright lights of the city drowned out any hope he might have for getting answers that way.

A cowardly part of himself hoped that Hikari wouldn't even show up. Wouldn't it be easier that way? This way he wouldn't have to confront the issues that tore them apart. This way they wouldn't have to reopen wounds that had long since scarred over. This way he could continue trying to ignore the fact that he lost someone so precious to him because he was too scared to fight for their relationship.

Hikari had argued that their relationship was solely based on being members of the Chosen, and he never even tried to dissuade her of that notion. He had been so weak. He was still so weak. Hikari was so much more than a fellow Chosen to him. She was much more special than that.

Hikari was the most precious person in his life. Her courage served as a daily inspiration to him. Her smile blinded him with its sheer beauty. When she smiled the rest of the world disappeared from his view. Sometimes he selfishly wanted to keep that smile all to himself as if it was a precious piece of art for only him to view.

She was his rock. He could always tell her anything and everything without worrying about being judged. He couldn't even begin to count the number of times he had confided his deepest secrets in her or spent hours venting to her about whatever he happened to be frustrated about at that time. She was always there for him without a complaint whenever he needed her and he could never thank her enough for it.

More than anything though it was her world view that made her so important to him. She saw the goodness in everyone. She had the ability to see things in others that he could never even begin to hope to see. The way she saw the world made him want to push myself harder to become a better person so that maybe one day he could share in that vision.

Sighing aggravatedly Takeru rubbed his face with his hands to try to clear his head. Putting Hikari on a pedestal wasn't going to help anything he needed to be pragmatic and calm if he was going to convince her that she was needed again. He needed her so much it hurt and he honestly didn't want spend another day without her in his life.

"Um Takeru? Are you ok?"

At the sound of that voice Takeru instantly froze. All of his plans to seem cool, calm, and collected were out the window. Suddenly he felt the urge to crawl in a hole and die rather than face up this embarrassment. Slowly raising his head he took in the sight of his former, and hopefully future, best friend.

It had only been a month or so since he'd last seen Hikari at school, but for some reason, whether it be the light or the occasion, he was in awe of her tonight. He knew he should start speaking soon before things got any more awkward, but he was rendered mute by the sudden realization of how beautiful she was.

A polite cough from Hikari broke him out of his stupor as he suddenly realized that he was actually going to have to speak in order to get anything done tonight. Taking a deep breath he tried to meet Hikari's gaze, but she averted her eyes seemingly feeling the same awkwardness he was. That was reassuring.

"Y-yeah sorry. I was just um...collecting my thoughts."

Finally now Hikari met his gaze and he felt like he had been hit by a lightning bolt as his body surged with an electricity he had not felt in a long time. This was truly what it meant to be back in her presence. It was like an addict's high that he never wanted to let subside. He was going to hold on to this feeling that only Hikari could give him no matter what.

"Your text made it seem like you needed to talk about something important and lately I keep hearing about you and you were at my house- what's going on Takeru?"

Takeru couldn't keep a stupid grin from crossing his face as he began to reply, "It's funny really. I've gone over in my head a million times what I wanted to say to you the next time we talked. The last 5 years I've played this scene over and over in my head. There's so much I want to say to you. So much I need to say to you. But until now I just couldn't find the words or the courage or whatever to say them to you. I think I'm ready now though."

Hikari's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Takeru what are you talking about?"

Takeru couldn't stop grinning. He felt his grin growing even wider, his facial muscles working overtime to match this new surge of happiness. He was finally talking to HIkari again. The 5 years of ice that had built up was finally starting to thaw. Spring was here at last. Finally he knew that he was going to be able to have Hikari back in his life.

"Hikari you were so so wrong about us. It's kind of hilarious when you think about looking back how far off the mark you were. I think deep down you know it too, or at least I hope so. You're the most important person in the world to me. I need you in my life Hikari. I've always needed you and I always will."

Hikari was blushing furiously and avoiding his eyes seemingly taken aback by his sudden outburst, but he didn't care. He figured that when he eventually came down off this high he was currently experiencing he might regret being so forward, but at the moment he felt he needed to lay it all out there. Hikari needed to know how he felt. There was no tomorrow. There was only tonight.

"Wh-what are you saying Takeru?"

Hikari was stumbling over her words now seemingly struggling to process the laying bare of his soul. Regardless he was not going to be daunted by her trouble taking it all in. If he had learned anything from this past 5 years in the wilderness it was that when you truly cared for someone you needed to do anything and everything to keep them otherwise you would be .

"I'm saying exactly what I feel. What I've always felt. Hikari, I can't go on living without you in my life. It doesn't matter if you're just a friend, a sister, a girlfriend, an enemy, a rival, I don't care. As long as you're in my life I know that everything's going to be ok. So please Hikari will you take this leap with me?"

Takeru could feel his heart pounding in his chest at this point. He'd exposed the very depths of his soul, depths that he had never previously even taken the time to explore, to Hikari. He hadn't talked to her in 5 years and now he was laying it all on the line with the hopes that somehow someway it would bring her back into his life.

"Why now? Why after all this time- when you've had plenty of opportunities to bring this up- why is this just coming up now? I don't understand."

Hikari's sharp questions broke him out of his thoughts yet again and he was stunned by how quickly she had regained her composure. Her eyes were filled with an emotion he couldn't quite identify and had never seen in her before. Much like him she seemed to be experiencing a storm of emotions and he wished he could just understand what she was going through, but before anything he guessed he owed her an explanation.

"I was scared. I was so scared Hikari. Honestly I'm still scared right this very second. I probably would never have mustered up the courage to do this if it weren't for Gennai-"

"Wait, what?! Gennai? What happened with Gennai?" Hikari interrupted suddenly reminding Takeru that he hadn't told her about the events of the last day and a half.

"I'm so sorry I completely forgot that you didn't know. Yesterday Gennai suddenly appeared in front of me out of the blue and told me that there's something wrong in the digital world and we all need to go back. He also gave me this."

Hikari's eyes went wide as he showed her his crest of hope.

"But I thought they were destroyed years ago? What about mine and the others?"

Takeru shook his head .

"I have no idea, though I guess we'll find out when we get to there. As far as I know none of the others have gotten theirs back or even seen Gennai. I think I have just as many questions as you do, but I guess we'll have to wait until we can find Gennai in the digital world in order to get any more information."

Hikari closed her eyes seeming to need a bit to process this information, which Takeru could hardly blame her for. This was a reality altering revelation. They had lived for the last 5 years assuming this chapter of their life was over only for it to be suddenly revived again out of the blue.

"Alright this explains a lot actually. Like why Taichi was acting so strange last night and why Daisuke suddenly showed up at my door out of the blue this afternoon-"

Takeru was confused by that last part and had to interrupt.

"Wait Daisuke showed up? Why?"

Hikari laughed, "It's a long story not really worth telling, but are you jealous or something Takeru?"

Now it was Takeru's turn to laugh at the absurd suggestion after all this time. He was actually relieved that they were able to laugh together again. It felt ever so slightly like a return to the normalcy that he so craved.

As their laughter died down Hikari spoke up once again, "What happened 5 years ago, it happened. I won't apologize for it because I think I was right at the time, but i realize what's going on in the digital world is far more important than any of that. So friends again?"

With that Hikari extended her hand and offered Takeru a genuine smile. A smile that he had not seen for 5 years. A smile that had haunted his dreams. Takeru was overcome with emotion as for the first time in 5 years he felt whole again. The swell of emotion was so great that his body moved before his mind could even process what he was doing.

Hikari gasped as Takeru bypassed her hand and enveloped her in a passionate embrace. He felt her stiffen a bit in his arms before finally wrapping hers around him too. He wanted to stay here in this very moment forever if he could. There was only the two of them holding each other in each others arms under the stars. Takeru couldn't be happier.

The light of his life had returned.

* * *

I took over a year and a half to write this chapter and I have no idea if I will ever write more. I honestly loathe my writing and believe I bit off a lot more than I could chew with this story. Maybe one day I'll come back, hopefully, but we'll see. In the meantime I hope you've enjoyed the story to this point and I'm sorry I couldn't provide better quality.


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